For the Sake of a Wish:Lelouch and the Grail
by Jericho the Temperate
Summary: A Code Geass and Fate/Stay Night crossover. Lelouch Vi Britannia thought it was all over after he died, but someone had other ideas.
1. Chapter 1: Everyone Has a Wish

_Disclaimer: Both Code Geass & Fate belongs to its creators._

_This is an idea that I have been playing with for a while. I'm a huge fan of Fate, especially the movie, and I keep thinking how well suited a certain CG character is to take part in this battle royal. On a side note although at the moment this story is focusing on Fate/Stay, it might spill over into the rest of the type moon world in future._

* * *

Chapter 1: Everyone Has a Wish

* * *

Fuyuki was a city that was dogged with misfortune. It was now going through the process of rebuilding for the second time in ten years.

The first time was when the great fire 10 years ago had destroyed much of the city, causing massive destruction to both property and life. The city had barely started on the road to recovery when the Holy Brittannian Empire had launched its invasion of Japan. The invincible Brittanian army, spearheaded by their new weapon, the Knightmareframes, had smashed through the Japanese defenses and brought the nation to its knees with contemptuous ease. Fuyuki had been one of the many battlefields where the JSDF had clashed with the invaders. And when the dust had cleared the newly rebuilt city had been reduced to rubble and its surviving population deported to the ghettos.

However, despite everything that has happened, the people of Fuyuki had refused to give up on their city. Almost as soon as Japan had regained its independence the rebuilding of old Fuyuki had begun, and by now the City had begun to raise its head and regain some of its former beauty.

So it was perhaps sad that once again everything the people here had built up was going to be endangered, as now Fuyuki was about to be the site of yet another battle.

* * *

The small church was located in the forests surrounding Fuyuki, having been left abandoned ever since the invasion of Japan almost a decade ago. The roof was missing tiles, vines were climbing up the walls and the surrounding yard was filled with weeds. The local wildlife had taken up residence both in the church and in its grounds, making use of the natural shelters provided them by the absent humans.

So if anyone had been there to watch, they would have been surprised at the sight of a car pulling up to the front door of the church, having followed the overgrown road that lead up to the building through the forest. A figure hopped out of the drivers seat, dressed in a long gray trench coat and wearing a cap that cast a shadow over its face, and briefly turning back to the car to pull out several large cardboard boxes, moved with purposeful strides to the church door, struggling for a moment to balance the boxes to get the door open.

Inside the church all the trappings of religion was long gone, and in their place was something else. On the floor of the church was drawn what any student of magecraft would have recognized instantly, a mystic circle. Used by Magi in their numerous summoning rituals.

The person unceremoniously dumped the cardboard boxes on the dusty floor of the church and rummaged in them for a moment before turning their attention to the mystic circle. Only this time instead of the boxes something else was held in its hands, a white robe, the white almost hidden under the dull red of of dried blood.

* * *

The Tohsaka household was one of the few that had had escaped the almost total destruction visited upon Fuyuki by the Britannians. Even during the occupation the fortunes of the family flourished as the Tosaka were one of the first to become Honorary Britannians and reap all the benefits that came with the status.

Inside the Tohsaka mansion, the current head of the family, Rin Tohsaka, had locked herself in the houses spacious basement, and was currently standing in front of the massive mystic circle inscribed on the floor. A young girl of teenage years, right now small beads of sweat were running down her face and her eyes bore a look of feverish intensity as she checked and rechecked her preparations, going over her notes one moment and then running over to check the giant circle the next. A number of the jewels her family had carefully hoarded over the years had been placed around the circle, both to strengthen Rin's summoning and to give it a power boost. Rin Tohsaka was a woman who did not relish the prospect of failure and she was determined to do everything in her power to not only safeguard against failure but to guarantee her success.

* * *

A long way from Japan, in the dark forests of what used to be the EU, lay Einzbern Castle. Like the Tohsaka Mansion, the Einzbern's ancestral home had escaped the great wars that had swept the land by the dual virtues of its isolated location and the magecraft of the inhabitants. One of the many buildings that made up the giant estate was the private chapel of the Einzbern's. It was a small building, nothing more than a rectangular building with a slanted roof and topped by a small spire. It stood on its own in the castle grounds, making a stark contrast next to the giant castle.

It was in this chapel that Illya von Einzbern stood, in the exact same place where her father had stood a decade ago. She was both determined and driven. She planned to succeed where her parents had failed and have satisfaction for the abandonment and neglect that had been her lot in life for years.

Her small round child's face set in a look of intense concentration, the little homonuclus moved forwards with confidant strides up to the giant mystic circle that had been drawn on the floor of the church.

* * *

Unlike the Tohsaka, the Matou family hadn't been so lucky during the Britannian invasion. Their property destroyed, their lives endangered, the family had been forced to flee to the homeland of their ancestors. And they had remained in Russia until after the occupation of Japan was over. And even after the Matou family had returned to Fuyuki, their old home and much of their wealth was long gone. To the shame and anger of the head of the clan, they had been forced to purchase property in the newly built suburbs like any other middle class Japanese family. Zouken Matou, the almost serpentine looking head of the Matou clan, dealt with his displeasure at their circumstances by taking out his frustrations out on the rest of his family, enforcing a regime of terror and fear in the house as if he was a miniature version of the late unlamented emperor.

Sakura Matou was currently in the ideal position to feel the full force of the old mans displeasure as she worked frantically to finish her own mystic circle. The old man offered no help other than the occasional criticism, but the girl could feel the old mans glare boring into her back as she nervously ran over the process in her head once again to ensure that she will make no mistakes, especially not where her adopted grandfather could see.

* * *

Kotomine Kirei stood at the window of his personal study, a small room at the back of the Kotomine Church, his hands clasped behind his back, his face serene as he watched the moon rise above Fuyuki. He knew the war was about to begin. The Holy Church had already informed him that the founding families were on the move, preparing once more to fight their bloody Battle Royal. Indeed he had verified for himself that his once student Rin was all but ready to begin her summoning. He had already decided it was prudent to stay away from the founding families for now, and was using all his resources to identify and track down the other four masters. He had plans, and for his plans to proceed smoothly he needed to find a master quickly. Preferably one who was inexperienced and untrained in the ways of the magi.

But Kotomine Kirei was not phased about his lack of progress so far. Where another man would have been nervous and redoubled his efforts, Kotomine Kirei plowed onward with the same machine like efficiency with which he handled every other task he set his mind to. Besides, it was not as if Kirei was in danger of loosing even if his initial plan failed, he had a trump card that all but guaranteed successes. A trump card that even now approached from behind him, his golden haired reflection becoming visible to Kirei in the window.

"So, war is upon us once more" The golden haired young man drawled, his clear charismatic voice seeming to resonate in the small room, very different from the quiet near monotones voice of the priest that answered him.

"Yes, I have just gotten confirmation, within the next few days we should see the majority of servants summoned, And then..." Kirei's eyes glinted in the moonlight. "We can go to work"

"About time" The golden youth smirked. "It was getting pretty boring in here, just waiting"

"Patience is one of the paramount virtues of a king" Kirei reminded his companion, his lips almost curving into a smile.

"Heh, do not seek to instruct _me_ on kingship Kotomine" The young mans grin turned into a smirk. "A king should not be kept waiting, especially not by these mongrels who call themselves heroes and their so called masters. Ah well, at the very least I can hold out some hope that this wars crop will have someone worthy of my weapons"

"I hope you will get your wish" Kirei turned away from the window and came face to face with the golden haired young man. "King of Heroes"

* * *

In isolated locations across Fuyuki city, half a world away in the dark pine forests of Germany, and in other secret places scattered throughout the world, the prospective masters stood ready before their mystic circles.

Some shaking with nervousness, some all but quivering with excitement, others trying to hide behind an emotionless mask and still others calmly confident of success.

The chant spilled out from all their mouths as prana spilled from their magic circuits, causing the every single circle to light up with ghostly blue light.

"A base of silver and steel"

"A foundation of stone and the archduke of contracts"

"Hear me in the name of my ancestor, my great master Schweinorg"

Rin Tohsaka stood proud and erect, her hands lifted before her and her palms facing outwards, speaking the words she had practiced a hundred times over as her heart pounded in her chest.

"Let the falling winds be as a wall"

"Let the gates in all four directions close"

"From the crown, come fourth and follow the forked road to the kingdom"

Even though she held an open book in her hands with the invocation written on it, Rin Tohsaka didn't once glace down at it, she had read the chat so many times she could have said it in her sleep.

"Fill fill fill fill fill!"

"Repeat every five times"

"Simply shatter once filled"

The dark basement that Sakura and Zouken Matou stood in was illuminated by the ghostly blue light coming off the circle, Sakuras expression looking almost frightened and the old man looking even more snakelike in the eerie light.

"I hereby propose!'

"My will shall create thy body, and thine blade shall forge mine destiny!"

"Abiding by the summons of the holy grail"

"If thou dost accede to this will and reason"

"Then answer me!"

At just the right moment Rin opened her free hand to reveal another gem nestled in her palm. Slowly she tilted her hand, letting the tiny thing drop into the glowing circle.

"I hereby swear, I shall become all that is good in this eternal world!"

"I will be the disposer of all that is evil in this eternal world!"

In the abandoned church, the chant rang off the empty walls, the voice of the summoner clear and fearless, gaze fixed upon slab of stone that was once the alter upon which laid the bloody robe, like a prayer was once more called out to the heavens from this place built for worship.

"But let thine gaze be clouded with madness!"

Illya's eyes shone with determination as she almost shouted out the chant in her child's voice.

"Thou who art trapped in a cage of madness!"

"And I who doth hold thine chains!"

The light coming from the circles grew so much that it was almost impossible to look at them with a naked eye as a whirlwind of prana swirled and roiled inside. The air above the circles seeming to almost shimmer and distort as if it was a mirage or heat haze as the power of both Grail and magi sought to rip apart the very fabric of the world to bring the worlds long dead heroes back to fight on her soil once more.

"Thou clad in the great trinity"

"Come fourth from the circle of constraint"

"Thou guardian of the heavenly scales!"

The final words of the chant were called out, and the power trapped within the circles reached an apex. Enough power to rewrite the very laws of life and death that governed this world, and make a miracle happen.

"Heed my call, and come fourth from the Throne of Heroes!"

In the abandoned church, the trench coat wearing figure spread its arms wide and threw its head back as the very earth almost shook from the power coming off the circle.

"My Black King!"

* * *

The summoning circles exploded in flashes of blue-white light and smoke, momentarily blinding even Magus eyes. When the light had receded and smoke cleared the summoners slowly lifted the hands that covered their eyes and looked upon the results of their labor.

Illya gazed in wonder at her champion.

Rin was staring in drop jawed shock at the figure before her.

Sakura had collapsed to her knees in exhaustion with the effort of summoning as the shadowy figure stalked out of the circle.

And in the small abandoned church, the summoner was watching the man approaching her with a small smile on her face.

He gently took one of her hands in his own and bowed over it, elegant and courtly, in a manner that would have been at home in any of the noble courts of the world.

"I hear and obey, my immortal witch"

* * *

_End of chapter 1_

_There you have it. Please tell me what you think of the idea and the story. So a new master servant pair is competing in this Grail War. Also can anyone guess what our protagonists class is? :)_

_PS: And if any of you are reading my geass/bleach fic, yes this was what i was doing instead of working on its next chapter. Sorry :(_


	2. Chapter 2: Lelouch of the Reconnaissance

_Chapter 2 is ready. Enjoy._

* * *

Chapter 2: Lelouch of the Reconnaissance

* * *

Lelouch vi Britannia, the Demon Emperor, a man who had died with the entire world to bare witness. A man whose body was burned and ashes scattered to the winds. And a man who lived once more.

"Then again" Thought Lelouch sardonically as he he followed C.C into the back of the church. "Its not so easy to dispatch a Demon, and I, I am the King of Demons"

The green haired witch stopped in front of the far wall of the church and pushed aside the detritus that covered it, exposing a trapdoor that, when opened, led to the basement of the church. Rather surprisingly, it had been converted into a small apartment, with bed, living area, kitchen and even bathroom. From the still lingering smell of pizza it wasn't hard to guess that it had played host to C.C for some time.

"This was what I have been using as my base of operations" C.C answered before he could ask anything. "Make yourself at home"

"Thank you" Said Lelouch as he pulled up a chair and crossed his legs. "So, when are you going to tell me?"

"Tell you what?" The witch asked nonchalantly as she plopped herself down on the large bed and pulled...Lelouch closed his eyes and sighed, a giant Cheese-Kun plushy towards her. His eyes snapped open again at the sound of her voice. "Well?"

"Why you summoned me. What your plan is for this...Grail War"

In the moment of his summoning, a lifetimes worth of knowledge had been poured into him by the grail. Knowledge that would have made a lesser man doubt his sanity. A secret world of magic that existed right under everyone's noses. A battle royal between magi for an omnipotent wish granting device. And the most mind-blowing concept of all, epic heroes from ages past being summoned back into the world to be the 'champions' of the fighting magi. True, while he was Emperor he had heard rumors of the secret world, but after a brief investigation he had concluded that they weren't a threat to him or his plans, and had simply ignored them. Apparently there was more to the world of magecraft than he had given it credit for. But then, none of the information he had gathered mentioned something as powerful as the Grail. He could understand the lure such a device held for men, and he could imagine the lengths some would go to achieve it.

Lelouch was bought back from his musings by C.C's voice. "Why don't you make me a pizza, and I'll tell you all about it"

Lelouch blinked. "Witch"

Said witch was laying propped against the bed, her yellow plushy held in her arms.

"What?" C.C raised an eyebrow. "Remember Lelouch, you are my servant now, so making pizza will be part of your duties"

"Don't test me C.C" Lelouch smirked. "Or I might decide to flex my new servants muscles"

Still he got up and sauntered over to the small kitchen area. It wasn't hard to find the ingredients for making pizza. They were the only ones the witch had stocked.

"You know this is weird right" He said over his shoulder as he worked.

"Hmmm?"

"I rise from the grave and the first thing you do is tell me to make you a pizza" He said as he tossed the chopped vegetables into the pan.

"I have my priorities my warlock"

"Of course" Lelouch smirked.

The pizza was baking and the smell was beginning to fill the basement when C.C spoke again.

"I have a wish"

"What?" Lelouch glanced over his shoulder at the bed and its reclining occupant.

"I summoned you because I have a wish Lelouch. Everyone, every master who enters the war has one"

Lelouch turned around, facing C.C, and leaned back on the kitchen table, crossing his arms across his chest as he focused his full attention on the witch.

"And what is your wish?"

"I don't want to be alone"

"C.C" Lelouch closed his eyes.

But she was still talking. "You made me live again Lelouch, I was a doll, simply existing, unfeeling and uncaring. But you, you made me feel again. Do you remember my own words? The power of the king will make you lonely? You proved me wrong" Lelouch opened his mouth and closed it again, for once even he was stuck dumb. "So I now have a wish, a hope, Lelouch. And I have chosen you to help me fulfill that wish"

"C.C" Lelouch had to get the words past the lump in his throat. "As you said, I am your servant. I am yours to command. Whatever your wish is, I will do everything in my power to grant it"

Lelouch stood there gazing down at the woman on the bed before him, his royal purple eyes, often deceptive and difficult to read, filled with nothing but perfect honesty. Wait... Lelouch blinked. He was standing right next to the bed, when did he move? He shook the thought aside and continued.

"If your wish is to not be lonely again, then I will see to it that it comes true"

"Lelouch" C.C leaned forwards until she was almost touching faces with him. Her nose twitched "What's that?"

"Huh?" Now Lelouch could smell it too. Something was burning? He turned his head to glance over his shoulder.

"Lelouch!" C.C shouted in his ear.

"The pizza is burning!"

* * *

The next day Lelouch drove up to Fuyuki city in C.C's car.

The plan they had agreed on was to play a passive role in the war. Because the objective was to keep Lelouch in this world, they only needed to survive the war without being destroyed by the other Master/Servant pairs. All a Servant needed to maintain his existence was a constant supply of prana, preferably from their Master, and, since C.C was immortal, she could maintain his existence in the world indefinitely. In effect they had won the war already, they just had to hold on to that victory.

Which bought Lelouch back to his current task, information gathering. He needed to familiarize himself with the city and gather as much data as possible on the other masters and their servants.

For the better part of the morning he cruised the city, tracing the layout of the streets, noting the position of the various landmarks, anything that might come in handy later. Fuyuki was a good sized city, with several locations that were worth looking at from a servants point of view. For one, a Local school "Homurahara High", was of particular interest to him, as according to the data C.C had supplied, three potential masters, one from the Tohsaka and two from the Matou families, attended the school. Infiltrating the school to keep tabs on them and, if necessary take them out, was one option. Another point of interest was the local Yakuza, led by a man called "Raiga Fujimura". Apparently he also had a granddaughter who was pretty famous as a Kendo practitioner and ran a Dojo in the city. Having the local criminals in his pocket would be an added bonus, and going through his Kendo loving granddaughter was one of the many ways that could provide Lelouch an in with the local boss. These and many other potential plans were methodically analyzed, chosen and discarded by Lelouch's high performance mind even as another part of said mind was busy preparing a detailed mental map of Fuyuki and storing it away in his formidable memory for future use.

After hours of driving he pulled up in front of a local bar called "Copenhagen", intending to take a moment to collect his thoughts and chat with the locals.

Lelouch had been waiting for barely two minutes when his mobile phone went off, and only one person had this number.

He flicked the device open and bought it to his ear. "What is it witch?"

"_I finished placing your order warlock, it cost an unseemly pile of money, but it will be ready by tomorrow"_

Lelouch smiled. "Excellent work, what about the other thing you were looking into?"

"_The Einzbern Mansion is still deserted, but a cleaning crew is working inside as we speak, apparently a new resident is due to arrive in a couple of days"_

"Then we have to move as soon as the equipment is ready, there is literally, no time to loose"

"_Understood, so long as you do all the work"_

"Don't count on it C.C" Lelouch chuckled as he clicked the phone shut.

One of the first things Lelouch had done after he and C.C had come up with their battle plan was place a large order for numerous high-tech surveillance equipment. Since neither he nor C.C was a magus in the traditional sense, they couldn't use the familiars and other ticks a magi used to keep track of his enemies, and were forced to relay on technology. Which might not be a bad thing, because according to C.C, technology was a huge blind spot for most magi, and they rarely thought to defend against it. So electronic surveillance might just slip under the radar and give them a sight edge over the others.

Lelouch clicked the phone shut and was wondering about his next move when he heard a voice above him.

"Excuse me sir, would you mind sharing your table?" Lelouch looked up to meet the eyes of a young man in his late teens, with short cropped red hair and and a tall, lean build.

"Magus" Lelouch noted in the back of his mind. He didn't understand how, but he could feel faint traces of prana on the young man. That, along with the wealth of knowledge provided him by the grail, was enough to identify the guy before him as a magus.

"Yes, no problem at all" Lelouch smiled cordially.

"Thank you sir"

The sudden discovery of a magus working at the local bar was slightly worrying to Lelouch. Every single magus was a potential master, especially one who was in such close proximity to the battleground.

"Looks like there is someone else I have to keep an eye on" Lelouch mused as the magus led the new customer over.

"By the way" Lelouch spoke up as the magus turned waiter was walking away after seating the new customer. "Whats your name?"

The young man looked back at him and smiled. "Its Shirou sir, Emiya Shirou"

* * *

Kotomine Kirei hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair, a satisfied half smile almost crossing his face. The golden haired King of Heroes, who had been lounging on the couch in front of him, raised an eyebrow at Kirei, an amused expression on his haughty face.

"I take it you got good news, you look exited, and this level of excitement f not usual for you"

"Good news indeed" This time Kirei did smile. "I just received word that an old acquaintance of mine has joined the war, in fact she has already summoned her servant and is on her way here"

"She? And which servant? Did you find out?"

"Yes, it is a she. And her name is Bazzet" Kirei answered his own servant. "And her servant is of the Lancer class"

"Lancer?" The golden archer let out a bark of laughter. "Last time Lancer was a clown. Lets hope this one has at least some dignity"

"You will find out soon enough" Kirei replied smoothly. "We will be meeting them when they arrive. I have already set up a meeting"

He met Gilgamesh's amused eyes with his own near emotionless ones. "In fact I intend to ask for her help. And I know she wont refuse me. We have history after all. I'm sure she would be only too glad to lend a...hand, to an old friend"

* * *

Mr Eduard Greyspire was a tall well built man in his early thirties, impeccably dressed in a three piece suit with his soft brown hair neatly parted down the middle to fall around his ears. Once he had been known as the Earl Grayspire, and had enjoyed all the power and prestige that came with being a noble of the Holy Britannian Empire. But all that changed the day the accursed Emperors faceless Imperial Guard, led by the half man half robot butcher Jeremiah Gottawald, had stormed his domain and forced him at gun point to renounce his title. Even now, years later, it still rankled. That he, who was one of the elite, was now reduced to the same level as the commoner masses and the barbaric foreigners. That he, that had once proudly worn the regalia of the nobility, was now reduced to running around in the same kind of suit worn by the working class salaryman. And most of all these damn Elevens! How dare they strut about acting like they had suddenly become heroes who had gained the power to rival the Britannians and were their equals in strength. It had never been superior strength that had brought Britannia down in the end. It was the madness of their own emperor and the weakness of the empress that followed.

Eduard gritted his teeth and shook away that line of thought. Dwelling on the past was useless. The past was set in stone, unchangeable, only the future was open to change. And change it he would.

"Britannia still has loyal sons to fight for her" he muttered as he stepped out of his car and stalked to the side door of the giant warehouse.

He was in the docks district of the newly rebuilt Tokyo settlement, an area that was littered with warehouses and giant cranes. The population of the main city rarely found a reason to come down here. This, along with the bounded field that covered the warehouse, keeping the curious dockworkers away, gave him the privacy he needed for his work.

He rapped on the metal door and, a moment later, the door was opened by a tall blonde haired women.

"Good you finally got here" She said as he stepped inside. "Are you ready to begin?"

"As ready as I will ever be" Eduard answered wryly even as the door clicked shut behind him.

In front of him, on the floor of the warehouse, had been inscribed a giant Mystic Circle. All it needed now was the final catalyst for the summoning to begin.

"Lets do this Nonette" Eduard declared as he stepped up to the circle."Its time for Britannia to regain its stolen glory once more!"

Nonette Enneagram, the former Knight of Nine, one of the elite Knights of the Round, smiled grimly. When Eduard and his group had first approached her with their plan, she had thought them a bunch of madmen. But since then she had seen things that made her doubt her own sanity. And now, now she truly believed that this plan had a chance of working. And she was dammed if she just laid down and accepted defeat without at least fighting for her nation and her Emperor, her true Emperor. Her fellow knights had failed miserably to save Britannia, and now she was the last one left who held true to the old ways. Nonette clenched her fists. It was in her hands now.

She watched,, her normally cheerful face solemn, her arms folded across her chest, as the mystic circle began to glow as Eduard began his incantation.

"Shut! Shut! Shut! Shut! Shut! Repeat every five times. Simply shatter once filled!"

As Nonette had learned, the magi of Britannia were few and far between. They were loners, only loosely connected by a web a mutual acquaintance. Very different from the Association they had no dealings with. The magecraft of Britannia had developed almost separately from the rest of the world since the founding of the empire. But, despite their low numbers, despite the isolation, their skill was second to none. A fact that was proved as Eduards chant rose to a crescendo, and the light coming off the circle grew blindingly bright, and the ground beneath them shook, causing Nonette, acting on her fighters instinct, to throw herself face down onto the floor and cover her eyes.

When the binding light had stopped pounding on her closed eyelids and the shaking was over, she finally looked up again and slowly pulled herself to her feet. Next to her Eduard bent over with his hands on his knees, panting in exertion. And in front of him...

The black clad man slowly walked up to Eduard, who had begun to straighten up, and, in a single smooth motion, fell to one knee.

"Servant Assassin stands ready master" came a low, whispering voice from behind the grinning skull mask. And Nonette, despite her years of hardening in the battlefield, felt shivers run down her back at that voice.

* * *

Illyasviel von Einzbern was sitting in the passenger cabin of a sleek private jet as it sped towards Japan. She hummed to herself as she watched the clouds roll past underneath her, the ground only a brown blur seen through the patches of cloud.

"Illya-sama?" The little homonuclus looked up to see one of her two maids standing next to her seat. "The captain says that in a few hours we will land at Tokyo International Airport. We will have to spend the night at the city and head out to Fuyuki the following day"

Illya nodded in understanding and returned to watching the clouds again. She briefly wondered how her giant servant was doing back in the specially made cargo hold of the jet. It had to be uncomfortable just sitting there in that empty room. Illya frowned. Maybe she should go and keep him company. Yes, Berserker always liked it when she was around, and it was a masters duty to look after her servant. Her mind made up, the little homonuclus hopped off her seat and made her way to the back of the jet.

* * *

_End of chapter 2._

_Not a lot of action in this chapter, it's mostly setting the stage for the future. I have also introduced a non cannon element into the war from the CG universe. What do you think of the idea?_

_And talking about Lelouch's class, a number of servants have been introduced in this chapter, meaning that he is denied their classes. The choice should narrow down even further during the next one._

_Also a big thank you for all the people who reviewed and told me to keep writing. :)_


	3. Chapter 3: Battle Joined

_Chapter 3 is up. This one took a bit longer than normal, but things finally start to get interesting from here on wards._

* * *

Chapter 3: Battle Joined

* * *

The Fuyuki City Hall, apart from being the administrative center of the city, was also home to the Records Office, where all the blueprints drawn up by the city planners were kept in careful storage. Early in the morning, barely a moment after the staff in the building had settled into a new workday, the Records Office received a visitor who politely requested that he be handed over the plans of the city power grid. The request was highly unusual, but surprisingly enough, no one raised any objections as the material was handed over. The visitor, after thanking them for their help, and casually telling them to forget this interaction ever happened, took his leave.

The matter didn't come up again until months later when the missing plans were discovered, and an official inquiry was launched into the whereabouts of the missing documents. But sadly, no one at the office was able to remember what happened to the blueprints or what they did with them. It was eventually written off as a bureaucratic error by the investigators, and more modernized filing methods were recommended for the cities records as a precaution in case it happens again.

Immediately after the blueprints went missing however, a series of events happened that could have shed light on the issue, if someone had connected the dots.

Exactly four hours after the visitor left the City Hall, two households in the city suffered catastrophic power failure.

Exactly thirty seconds after said power failure, the residents of the two houses, Shinji Matou and Rin Tohsaka, made furious phone calls to the city's emergency utilities number demanding the problem be fixed, and, after earnest assurance that help would be dispatched immediately, hung up and slammed the phones down on their holders.

The poor telephone operator, who had been forced to endure the pair of tirades, removed his headset and disconnected the jacks that ran from his laptop to the telephone box. He clicked open a mobile phone he drew from his jacket pocket and speed-dialed a number, waiting impatiently until it was picked up on the other side.

"C.C, the initial conditions have been cleared, you may proceed with phase two"

* * *

An orange colored van, with the cheerful logo of the Fuyuki City painted on its side and it's drivers compartment bedecked with pizza hut stickers, pulled up to the driveway of the Matou residence sometime later.

When old man Zouken came to answer the persistent doorbell, he found himself face to face with a woman dressed in dirty gray coveralls and cap, with a cascade of green hair spilling out from under the cap on to her shoulders. One of her hands held a clipboard and over one shoulder hung a bag bristling with tools, some of witch the old man could only guess the purpose of.

A pair of golden eyes came to rest on the old man and a calm emotionless voice asked. "Is this the Matou residence?"

"Yes it is, are you the repairman they were sending?" The old man snapped irritably.

"I'm the repairwoman" The repairwoman answered in the same deadpan voice that elicited an annoyed grunt from Zouken. "If you can show me the problem?"

"Fine, come on, lets get this over with quickly" Zouken snapped, motioning for the woman to step inside and making a subtle gesture to part the bounded field that normally covered the house.

* * *

Less than an hour later the woman was back in her van, and she crossed out one of the names on her clipboard. She then started the van and started driving up the street, at the same time pulling out a mobile phone and clicking it open to punch a speed dial number.

"_Hello Witch_"

"Hello Warlock, I'm done at the first place"

"_Excellent, I'm almost done at my end, I'll contact you once I'm finished_"

"I still think its unfair that I have to go to two places while you get to go to only one"

A soft chuckle was heard down the line. "_I get servants perks, If I go near those places there is a good chance of an enemy servant picking up my presence, which leaves you_"

"It's still unfair" She complained as the van sped along the road.

"_I'll think of a way to make it up to you_"

"You had better" she said to another chuckle and hung up the phone.

The orange van sped up and turned into a route that would leave the suburbs behind and would eventually put it on the outskirts of the city and bring it to the next name on the clipboard, The Tohsaka Mansion.

* * *

All the way across the city, inside the Einzbern mansion, Lelouch hung up the phone and got back to the task at hand. Even though it was large enough to get lost in, he found little difficulty navigating the spacious halls, used to the similar buildings of Britannia. Even though this mansion was in the European style, it wasn't hard for him to guess the layout of the building.

While he had to be careful when going near the Tohsaka and Matou houses for fear of hostile servants picking up his prana signature, the Einzbern master, and by extension servant, were still en-route, so this was one building he could infiltrate with impunity.

It was a fact he was now taking full advantage of.

Lelouch had just finished installing the last of the devices when his keen ears picked up the sounds of vehicle engines coming up to the house followed by a massive wave of prana washing over him. He was immediately on guard and ran to the nearest window to peer at the mansion grounds below him. Sure enough a car was pulling up to the front door, followed closely by a freight truck.

For a brief moment Lelouch was tempted to hide himself in the mansion and observe the Einzbern master, but almost immediately shook the thought aside. He didn't have the presence concealment skill of the assassins and would never be able to avoid detection. Besides he had already finished what he came for, time to make tracks.

But before he turned away from the window he caught sight of a little girl, who had ice pale skin and snow white hair, barely into her early teens by the looks of her, lightly hop out of the car accompanied by two equally pale faced women dressed as maids.

As Lelouch turned on his heel and sped away, he wondered about the Einzbern master he had just caught a glimpse of. The girl was obviously not a normal human, not even a normal magus. That much was obvious at a glance to his servants senses, and since according to C.C, the Einzberns were experts at alchemical magecraft, this was most likely a homonuclus, an artificial master created and trained for the single purpose of winning the Grail War. A guided missile, deadly and with only one purpose for existing, much like his adopted brother Rolo had been. Lelouch fought back a grimace. She had the potential to be extremely dangerous, and judging by the sheer flood of prana he felt from her servant, these two had to be one of the most powerful master/servant pairs in the war. The Einzbern master had just become a priority for surveillance.

* * *

Lelouch was halfway back to his base when on a whim he decided to make a stop as he passed by the local Pizza Hut. He did promise the witch that he would compensate her for all the work she had to do today. Maybe he was getting soft, but seeing the look of surprise on her face when he presented the pizza to her of his own free will was slightly endearing. Besides, he tried to justify his actions, the more pizza he bought her, the less he had to cook for her.

He pushed open the doors and stepped into the familiar atmosphere of the Pizza Hut. Well known from the many trips he and C.C had made to its Tokyo branches. He couldn't b help his lips curling into a slight smile as the familiar smells and sights invoked memories of the early days of his struggle, when he was still hiding C.C in his bedroom, and he had to juggle the black knights and schoolwork.

Maybe it was because he was thinking of the past, but suddenly his head snapped up to stare at the far corner of the building, there was a red haired girl sitting in at a table that looked... no that wasn't Kallen, just another redhead. Lelouch shook his head, it seemed he was getting nostalgic on top of getting soft.

Lelouch stalked over to the counter and smiled pleasantly at the young girl at work. "Hello, can I have five large pepperoni pizzas please"

The girl, blushing slightly on account of the smile, raised an eyebrow at the large order. "Five? planning a party sir?"

"Of sorts, but you wont believe me if I gave you the number of attendees" Lelouch replied wryly.

Later, Lelouch was trudging down the street with the boxes of pizza under his arm. Looking forwards to the reaction he would provoke from the witch when he presented his surprise gift. As he turned the street corner, he thought he caught a glimpse of a head of red hair.

* * *

There was no doubt about it, he was being followed.

It was the red haired girl from the Pizza Hut. Lelouch had only manged to catch glimpses of her out of the corner of his eyes, it was impossible to get a good look at her without tipping her off, but there was no doubt it was her. In fact he might have never picked up on her following him if it hadn't been for that brief moment in the shop when he had though she was Kallen. Whoever she was, she knew what she was doing, and he, like an idiot, had walked right into her crosshairs.

Now that Lelouch was paying more attention, he could clearly see that the only thing she had in common with Kallen was the red hair. This girl, from what he had been able to see, was tall, slim, and was dressed in a practical brown business suit that hugged her body. One word came to mind when he thought of the girl, "Professional".

And Lelouch could think of a few very unpleasant reasons for a professional to suddenly start following him. The most unpleasant reason, his identity being compromised, he discarded immediately. Because that was next to impossible. He had a 'natural defense' that effectively hid his identity even from powerful magi. Besides which, the girl had picked him up when he came for the pizza, and he had only been inside Pizza Hut for a few minutes, in the short time he had spent inside the chances of being recognized, even by a magus, were slim. That left the next unpleasant reason, namely, she knew he was a servant. And the only plausible way for a human to know that was if said human was a Master. Come to think of it, this one was even more unpleasant than the other reason.

If this woman was indeed an enemy master, then that left Lelouch in a pinch. The moment she decided to make a move, she could call her servant to her side with a thought, and being a magus, she herself might have a few tricks up her sleeves. Engaging an enemy master servant pair this early in the war would be unwise, it would end up derailing his entire strategy for the war.

Lelouch cursed his luck. There was no way around it, he had to break away from her somehow. Every second that passed increased the chance of setting off a battle. He looked up and down the street and spotted a likely looking restaurant across the street that was advertising an "Indian Food Special", it was nice and crowded, perfect. He quickly crossed the street and headed into the restaurant, briefly stopping a waiter and asking him to direct him to manages office.

* * *

The restaurant manger looked up startled as the door of his office slammed open and a regal looking young man, with royal purple eyes and silky black hair, stepped inside. The poor man had barely manged to get his mouth open to ask what the hell was happening before the intruder spoke up, casually swiping a hand in front of his eyes.

"I want you to follow my instructions exactly and without question, then forget all about this meeting"

* * *

When the manager had gone and left him alone in the second floor office, Lelouch moved up to the window overlooking the street and surreptitiously scanned the street for the red haired girl. Sure enough she was there, she hadn't entered the restaurant, but was waiting to follow him again when he emerged. Perfect.

Lelouch bought his hand up to cover his face, fingers splayed, and closed his eyes. A slight, mirage like, distortion in the air in front of his face, an almost undetected ripple of mana, and a mask materialized on his face. It was in the shape of oval that hugged his face, completely smooth, it's surface shiny and reflective like a mirror. Only this mirror was made from no material that was known to man, but was a crystallized fantasy, an existence beyond the mundane, given form by the collective will of humanity itself.

"Here we go" Lelouch thought as he channeled his prana into the mask, causing it to glow with eerie white light and an oddly shaped shadow, like that of a bird in flight, to begin to appear on its surface.

* * *

Bazett Fraga McRemitz was a professional. Lelouch had been right on the money with his brief assessment of her. She had spent years of her life as one of the Magus Association's feared enforcers, hunting down those that had received sealing designations. She had stared death in the face many times, had seen things that would have turned the stomachs of many a battle hardened solider, and she had never so much as batted an eye during any of it.

She had always been good at combat. In her many fights with heretical magi and their minions, she had proved her worth many times over, so much so that even among the enforcers she had earned the unofficial title of strongest combatant. She had combined rune magic her clan practiced with the more traditional spells she had picked up at the Association and eastern martial arts to create a deadly fighting style that was unique to her alone. She was one of the few who held the distinction of being able to match a Dead Apostle in combat. And if all else failed, she had her trump card, the trump card that put her on almost equal ground with a heroic spirit. That said, she was no slouch when it came to reconnaissance and intelligence gathering either, and always preferred to scout out the situation before committing to battle.

Bazzet couldn't believe her luck. Of all the places to encounter the first enemy servant, it had been at the local Pizza Hut. She had been sitting in the corner enjoying her pizza when he had walked in, bold as brass, acting all cool and aloof. For a moment she thought he had identified her as a master when his gaze snapped to her briefly, but that fear was soon assuaged as he ignored her and went on his way. She had been following him ever since.

Hopefully, so long as he didn't know he was being followed, he would lead her to his master and their base of operations. And then she could call her own servant to her side and they can move to engage them. So far her strategy was working out. She had lost sight of him when he went in to the restaurant, but his prana signature showed that he was still inside. Now she was waiting patiently for him to come out, and taking care to stay hidden, though so far this servant had seemed completely clueless about the cloak and dagger nature of the grail war and most likely would never notice her if she had been far more obvious.

The thought had barely left her mind when she was snapped to sudden alertness by the shrill sound of alarm bells screaming to life inside the restaurant building. A moment later the doors of the establishment were thrown wide open and the clientele, who were in a obvious state of panic, ran out. There were a lot of people, as the restaurant had been offering some kind of special meal today, and they made a confused crowd in front of the building. Bazett stood in indecision, trying to determine the best cause of action. She was sure this was no accident. The chances of a random fire suddenly starting in the same building a heroic spirit had just entered was nil. She could only assume that he was up to something inside, or he had seen her and was trying to lure her in so he can deal with her. She could run inside and try to figure out the situation, remain here, or call for backup, the last one might draw the unfriendly attention of other masters or servants.

Then the prana signature of the servant vanished.

Bazett's eyes widened, one moment she could sense the massive prana flow of a heroic spirit, next moment there was nothing.

"Presence concealment?" She wondered. "No, that servant was no assassin, he was far too bold and from the way he let his guard down in the open is very unlike a servant of the shadows"

Throwing caution to the winds, Bazett ran to the restaurant that now had trickles of smoke coming out of the open windows. She was determined to pick up his prana again, he couldn't have just vanished into thin air.

But after a full hours worth of questioning the rapidly dispersing crowd, hypnotizing the now arrived fire fighters to let her into the building and sweeping said building for clues she found nothing. Bazett was finally forced to admit that the servant had given her the slip. He had probably seen her, and caused the fire in the restaurant to cause a distraction so he could break away. Probably some high speed technique or brief hypnosis. It could explain the way he seemed to simply vanish.

Bazett growled in frustration. She had to admit that there was nothing more to be done here. She had had the perfect opportunity handed her on a golden platter and she blew it. She would never hear the end of this from lancer when she got back, the Irish hero would mock her mercilessly for such a bungle on her part. She muttered one last curse as she turned away from the restaurant and walked away heading for her base of operations she shared with her servant.

From atop the roof of a multistory building all the way down the street, a pair of royal purple eyes watched her go.

* * *

He followed the girl all the way to an apartment building on the bank of the Fuyuki river. Lelouch was currently standing on the roof of another apartment complex on the far side of the river. He was sure she never picked up on his presence after the restaurant incident ,but he was still being extremely careful and keeping as far away from her as possible. So now he knew where another of the enemy masters was based. And it had taken no time at all to find her identity.

"The question now is, what do do about it" Lelouch mused from atop his vantage point. "I can simply observe her like I do the founders, but keeping an eye on the masters is only half the task, I also need to learn the identity and powers of their servants, and I doubt simply watching the houses is going to get me any data on them"

"Of course, there is another option" He thought grimly. He knew for certain who three of the other masters were, even if he didn't know their servants. And the best way to gather data on a servant was to watch them fight. If a battle occurred between two servants and their masters, then a lot of identities and noble phantasms might be let out of the bag.

"It involves the most risk, but also the most reward, in short its a gamble" Lelouch thought as he pulled his mobile phone out of his pocket and dialed a number. "And I have always loved a gamble"

The phone was picked up on the other end and a female voice inquired his reason for calling.

"Hello, is this the Einzbern residence? I would like a word with Mistress of the house please"

* * *

Bazett was sitting on her bed on the small apartment she shared with Lancer, where she had just finished relating the events of the day. As expected the Irishman had chuckled at her misfortune, but beyond that had told her not to worry.

"If he had to run from just a master, then he was most likely a low level servant. Maybe Caster or Assassin"

"But Assassin would have presence concealment and I could feel his presence just fine" Bazett protested.

"You yourself said that he just vanished after starting a fire to distract you. He could simply have had it turned off" The blue haired knight noted. "But that is beside the point, his class we can find out later, but what about his strength? What coud you read about that?"

"That...is the other strange thing" Bazzet admitted. "I could tell he was a servant, but his attributes were hidden from me, I couldn't even see his prana level"

"So all we know is that he is a servant?" Lancer snorted as Bazett averted her eyes in embarrassment. "Well we know that he's a strong stealth oriented servant if he can mask his attributes and pull a vanishing act like that. We will just have to keep and eye out I guess, when we do run into him again, I will settle him"

"Good" Bazett spoke up again. "Then I can finally get some use out of you" To which lancer chuckled in good humor.

Lancer had just opened his mouth to speak again when there was a knock at the door of their small apartment.

In an instant Lancer was at the door, crimson spear materialized and at a ready stance. Bazett herself was in a defensive stance, ready to support her servant, but relaxed when the knocks came again, this time in a coded order she recognized. A quick check through the eyes of a familiar further confirmed the individual at the door.

"Stand down Lancer" She said. "It's a friend"

With that she opened the door to reveal a tall well built man with messy black hair and priests robes with a golden cross in a chain around his neck. He nodded to Bazett as he stepped inside.

"Bazett, its good to see you"

"Welcome Kotomine, its good to see you too" Bazett replied with a smile.

* * *

Bazett and Kirei had wasted no time in discussing her strategy for the war, with Lancer listening in. Though as the mediator of the war, he was unable to aid her directly, he was still able to act as a source of advice and intelligence for her. Kirei had just explained that he had received confirmation of five out of the seven servants summoned and was in the process of advising her the best plan was to be patient till the final servants are called, when things got interesting.

A massive wall of prana washed over them, alerting both Bazett and Lancer to the presence of an enemy servant. This servant was making absolutely no effort to hide, and, as they could tell from his prana signature, he was headed straight for them. A quick look outside the window confirmed their fears. A massive man, literally the size of two men, and dressed in an ancient Greek style kilt, was coming down the street, and he seemed to be carrying a...child? on his shoulder.

Kirei, after taking one look said. "Illyasviel von Einzbern, and If I'm not mistaken, that is Berserker"

"Dammit, how did they find us" Bazett snarled.

"More importantly, what do we do?" Lancer inquired.

"We can fight" was his masters angry response.

"Not advisable" Kirei interrupted in a calm voice. "This looks to be an ambush, and staying and fighting in an ambush is unwise. You would do well to fight her later on ground of your choosing, not suddenly like this"

"He's right mater" Lancer declared. "We need to fall back and regroup. I will distract them and buy you some time, take your friend and get out of here"

"But" Bazett protested.

"Don't worry, I have no intention of making a last stand. I'll hold just long enough for you to get away, and then break away from them. Remember my agility is rank A, this brute doesn't stand a chance of catching me if i don't want to be caught"

Bazett gave a resigned sigh "Very well, hold just long enough for us to get away, not a moment longer, and then break away and join us. That is an order Lancer, do you understand?"

The blue clad servant bowed to her and grinned, eyes shining with anticipation of the coming battle. "Yes my master, understood"

Moments later, as Bazett and the priest fled the building by the back entrance, Lancer was already marching out the front doors and into the street. He twirled his crimson spear in one hand as he turned to face the mountain of muscle that was rapidly approaching, a cocky grin on his face.

* * *

_chapter 3 ends_

_This chapter showed a glimpse of Lelouch's abilities as well as a noble phantasm. What do you think of that idea? Any advice and critiques are welcome._

_I hope to give Lelouch noble phantasms that are reflective of his deeds and legend. But I don't want to overstuff his arsenal with too many. I know most Heroic spirits have just one or two, with a few rare cases having three or even five._

_In the next chapter the first actual battle of this Holy Grail war will begin._

_Thanks for the reviews and advice! See you next time._

* * *

OMAKE

Lancer faced the towering mountain of muscle who was brandishing a giant stone axe and screaming incoherently, spear held on guard and ready to leap into action at a moments notice.

The little girl, who had dismounted as soon as they encountered each other, waved her hands cheerily and declared. "Get him Berserker!"

The giant roared a battle cry and charged. Stone axe held high and frothing at the mouth. Lancer grinned and nimbly stepped aside to avoid the blow.

"You fool, did you think a brute like you with no technique and only brute strength can land a blow on me?"

He effortlessly dodged the next blow, and the next, and the next.

Illya, watching the battle, was cleching her fists in frustration. Lelouch, from his far away vantage was impressed by the blue knights skill.

Then suddenly, Lancers luck intervened.

The brute was coming into attack once more, and Lancer effortlessly stepped aside, and tripped on a banana peeling someone had thrown on the street earlier.

Lancer landed flat on his back.

The axe came down.

Far away, a running Bazett suddenly stumbled and stopped in her tracks, Kirei looking at her with concern.

"Bazett, what is it?"

"Lancer died!" Bazett gasped out.

Lelouch pointed a shaking finger at the giant form of Berserker.

"You are not human!"

* * *

Couldn't resist that. :)


	4. Chapter 4 : First Blood

_In this chapter the first official battle of the Holy Grail War takes place. It was also proving to be a bit too long, so I broke it up into two chapters._

* * *

Chapter 4: First Blood

* * *

The giant stone axe smashed into the concrete pavement with the force of a meteorite, splintering the solid concrete and leaving behind a good sized crater.

Lancer, who a moment ago had been standing there, landed lightly on a parked car a dozen feet away.

"Whoo hoo! aren't you the strong one" The blue clad spearman taunted his foe. "If you actually manage to hit me with one of those I'll be in trouble"

The only response he got was an incoherent roar from Berserker and the sound of the child master shouting encouragement at her servant. He leaped behind the car to avoid the next stroke and the stone axe ended up hitting the car, crumpling it like cardboard.

Berserker smashed the remnants of the car to one side and charged Lancer once more, stone axe held high and looking ready to cut the knight in half.

Lancer swept aside the downward swing with his crimson spear. The two weapons striking sparks where they met. He leaped back from the next swing, impaled a nearby trash can with the barbed tip of his spear and hurled it at Berserker by swinging his weapon in a wide arc. As Berserker swatted at the trash can with his axe Lancer used the distraction and moved to put some distance between himself and the giant servant. Berseker, unable to grasp tactics beyond the simple, 'Smash whats in front of me', relentlessly pursued the blue knight, stone axe held high once more.

Instead of retreating once again, Lancer suddenly reversed tactics, gripping his spear in both hands and charging his giant foe, long leaping strides closing the distance between them in an eyeblink. Berserker roared and swung his weapon in a horizontal arc in a blow intended to take Lancers head off from his shoulders. The blue knight dipped his knees at the last moment, going into a running crouch, and the stone axe passed harmlessly overhead, missing his head by mere inches. In the next instant Lancer was inside Berserkers guard, and drove the crimson spear into the giant warriors unprotected stomach in a disemboweling thrust.

That blow, with the strength of a heroic spirit behind it, could have driven a hole through a Knightmareframe. Even another heroic spirit didn't stand a chance against it unless they blocked it with weapon or armor. But this time, the spear hit Berserkers unprotected abdomen and just bounced off. There was not even a scratch to mark where it had landed.

Lancer couldn't help himself from staring in shock, unable to believe his eyes, when Berserker backhanded him, sending him flying.

On his far away vantage point on an apartment complex roof, Lelouch was watching the battle with growing interest.

"Not only does Berserker have unholy strength, his skin must act like some kind of armor" He thought as he watched spear and axe clash once more.

While Lancer may not have activated his Noble Phantasm yet, that thrust should have spilled Berserkers entrails all over the street. That the brute could simply shrug off a blow from even a sealed Noble Phantasm was impressive and slightly worrying. But it did offer some interesting clues about his identity.

"Judging by his outfit I'd say he's an ancient Greek hero"

The Greek legends were full of stories of superhuman warriors. The offspring of Olympian Gods and Goddesses, who wielded both fantastic weapons and divine powers. One such hero that immediately came to mind was Achilles, the Greek champion of the Trojan War. The legend of Achilles said that his skin couldn't be pierced by any weapon, except in one place. And Achilles did have a history of going berserk.

"If this is him, then all the better, I would already know what his weakness is. If he would just use a Noble Phantasm I could tell for sure. But even then there is still Lancer to worry about, I don't know enough about him yet to calculate his identity"

He was interrupted from his musings by the sound of a footstep behind him.

"You aren't wasting any time are you" a deadpan voice said from behind him.

"C.C, you came just in time. I need your help" Lelouch turned to face the gray witch.

"Yes?"

"Please stay here and watch the battle, see if you can determine the identities and Noble Phantasms of those two" He indicated the battle going on below. "Lancers master fled this place with another man just before the battle, I'm going to go after them"

"You seem interested in them, more so than usual" The witch noted.

"Really?" Lelouch smiled. "Maybe it's because I recognized Kotomine Kirei, the Church appointed 'impartial' mediator of the Holy Grail War. I'm curious to know why he'd want to meet with another master in secret"

"I see, interesting" C.C looked thoughtful.

"Isn't it?" Lelouch moved over to the edge of the apartment roof. "Be sure to keep a close eye on that battle. This would be a total waste if we can't learn anything about the enemy servants"

With that he reverted to spiritual form and sped away.

C.C moved over to the edge of the apartment roof and pulled out a pair of binoculars, settling down to watch the clash of heroes.

"You really are making me do a lot of work today Lelouch, this is going to cost you a lot of pizza"

* * *

Down in the streets below a bruised and battered Lancer had managed to find his feet again just in time to avoid another death blow. Now the two heroes traded blows once more, with Lancer still fighting on the defensive. The crimson spear blocking and sweeping aside the swings of the mighty axe and darting into try and pierce the naked skin of the mad servant.

Despite the many hits Lancer landed by virtue of his agility and inhuman speed, non of the blows succeeded in so much as drawing a drop of blood. Even when they landed on clearly vulnerable points like arteries and vital organs the result was the same.

This was pulling the blue spearman at a huge disadvantage. No matter how many blows he landed on Berserker, it wasn't going to hurt him. On the other hand if Berserker managed to land even a single hit on him, with that giant weapon, with that monstrous strength behind it, it would be the end of the battle.

No matter which way you looked at it, Lancer was now left with only one option. Both Lancer, the miniature Einzbern mater and a certain green haired witch were starting to come to the same realization.

So it was not surprising that when the next time Berserker attempted to charge him, Lancer responded by dodging the charge and running in the opposite direction to put distance between himself and his enemy. He twirled his spear in his hands, too fast for the naked eye to follow, tracing circles around his body. The entire weapon was starting to glow with crimson light as a flood of prana poured into the weapon from the Lancer. Berserker turned, roaring, to charge again. Lancer ran forwards and suddenly leaped into the air, the giant leap almost making him seem to have taken flight. In the next instant he had pulled back his arm, and hurled his glowing crimson spear at the charging Berserker with the force of a meteorite.

"Gae Blog!"

The crimson spear sailed through the air with the speed of a thunderbolt. With the cloud of glowing crimson prana covering it and trailing behind in its wake, looked like a red comet striking down on to the earth from the heavens.

Berserker never had the time to block as the crimson missile hit him square in the chest, the impact sending a deafening boom that shook the nearby buildings and an explosion of light that erupted like a volcano from the spear tip, as all the destructive energy that was held inside the Noble Phantasm was discharged into the giant warrior. Berserker was blasted off his feet and sent flying dozens of feet, his landing leaving a huge furrow in the middle of the street.

Lancer landed nimbly from his jump and held out his hand, and the crimson spear came flying back from the prone form of Berserker and came to a stop in his hand. Lancer rested the but of the weapon on the ground and leaned on the shaft, raising his eyes to look at the fallen form of his foe. And was frozen in shock, unable to believe his eyes.

Baerserker was back on his feet, looking none the worse for wear, roaring and ready for battle. The place on his chest were the spear had stuck was not even scratched. It was obvious that it was only the force of impact that had knocked him off his feet, not any damage he had taken. The mad servant had taken a Noble Phantasm to his chest and he was unharmed, completely unharmed.

"He's a monster" Lancer stammered.

"Nothing you can do can hurt Berserker! He is the strongest of the servants!" The Einzbern master shouted from the sidelines.

"Interesting" C.C said from her perch high above.

* * *

Kirei Kotomine and Bazett Fraga McRemitz had left the sounds of battle far behind them. Kirei was in the lead, taking them into an abandoned section in the city that was filled with ruined buildings and piles of rubble. A number of such neighborhoods remained, due to the disasters that had befallen the city during the last ten years. Despite the best efforts of the city government, the clearing out and redevelopment of these remnants was expected to take a long time. So for now they stood as monuments to the violent past, and havens for vagrants, criminals and other scum.

"This is far enough I think" Kirei said between panting breaths after they had finally come to a stop a long way from the scene of the fight. "Lets go in there and wait for your servant" He indicated an abandoned building that remained still relatively intact.

Bazett agreed and they stepped inside. She had been honestly surprised at how fit the middle aged priest seemed during the run here. True, the man had been an executor during his youth, but even for such a man age took a toll. That he had remained in such fit condition for so long was impressive.

The inside of the building was as run down as the outside, the only difference being that it was a lot darker inside. Piles of rubble littered the floors while a decades worth of accumulated dust was disturbed by their footsteps.

"The place looks ready to come crashing down" Bazett noted as she walked around the floor. Looking at the cracks running along the walls. "Good thing we wont be staying for long"

Kirei came up behind her as she turned to face a window through which could be seen the rising full moon, casting it's light into the ruined building and illuminating its squalor in all its silver glory. If Bazett noticed the priests approach she gave no sign of it, seemingly entranced by the sight of the silver moon.

"I have a question for you Bazett" Kireis voice was very quiet, and almost anticipatory. "Why did you join this war. If I may presume, what do you wish for"

"What do I wish for?" Bazett hesitated for a moment, then let out a long sigh. "Do you know who my servant is?"

"I guessed him to be an Irish or Celtic hero from what I could observe"

"He is" She said softly. "Do you know the legend of Cu Cuchulain?"

"Ah, so that's who he is. Impressive, truly an epic hero"

"Well" She hesitated again, still staring at the moon. "Call this a girls fancy, but I have always loved his legend. Ever since I was a little girl, he was my hero. I loved to hear about him, and I wished his story was different at the ending. I have always dreamed of saving him from his doom. Of give him an end a hero deserves"

"So this is your wish" Kirei Kotomine smiled.

"Yes" Bazett sighed. "Call it the dream of a silly girl, but that is my wish"

"Bazett"

"Hmmm"

"Hold out your left hand"

She reflexively did so.

The black key slashed through her arm, severing it clean off at the elbow.

* * *

A long way away, in the street in front of Bazetts apartment building, Lancers eyes widened.

"Bazett" He whispered, barely managing to keep his attention focused on his giant enemy.

A moment ago, he had felt his connection with his master severed. And with it he had lost his prana supply and anchor to the world. Soon enough his body would start to fade. And that could only happen to a servant when their master was... No! he refused to consider it.

He had to get to her. Find out what was happening.

Lancer moved once more to put some distance between himself and Berserker. After his futile attempt at using the Noble Phantasm he had been focusing on keeping the brute busy and buying as much time as he could for his master and her friend. But now he needed a distraction for himself.

Lancer quickly lowered his spear tip to the ground and traced a rune whose outline glowed with prana. He added another rune beneath that and a third above it. Berserker was almost upon him by the time he was done. As the giant loomed over him Lancer leaped away, and the runes discharged their power.

A blazing ring of fire materialized around Berserker. A roaring inferno that effectively trapped him inside. It wasn't able to hold Berserker for long, only a few moments. But that little distraction was all Lancer needed. The moment the ring of fire flared into existence Lancer turned and ran, his incredible speed carrying him beyond the mad servants range within moments.

Berserker, after he had broken free from Lancers impromptu rune trap, kept trying in vain to find his foe again, unable to comprehend the sudden disappearance of Lancer, when his master recalled him to her side. At a word from her the giant lifted her onto sit on his shoulder before both of them turned and left, and only the wrecked street was left behind them to mark the site of the first battle of the fifth Holy Grail War.

* * *

Bazett Fraga McRemitz was a brave woman. She was a fighter, a warrior. She had gone toe to toe with everything from dead apostles to heretical magi. She had stared death in the face so many times it felt like second nature. Her ability to remain calm and focused despite the danger threatening her was admired even among the ranks of the enforcers, who had seen things that would make the average magi throw up.

Bazett was a brave woman, and she certainly did not fear either pain or death. But what she felt now was fear. Fear for her servant, her childhood idol, fear of whatever this madman planned for him. And most of all, fear that her life had been wasted, ended abruptly when she was on the brink of achieving her greatest dream, her dream that had been broken and shattered with the same apathy another man would use when squishing a bug.

Because Bazett Fraga McRemitz was dying.

She had never been afraid of a battle, in fact she almost welcomed a fight. Her battle prowess were becoming all but legendary in the world of magi. Her reputation cemented with a long string of victories. She had her hard won skill, she had her innate power, she had her trump cards. With all these to draw upon, she had never feared a fight.

Even through the unbearable pain, the imminent death, and coldhearted betrayal, that still rankled. That she, a warrior, one whose prowess was unmatched except by legendary spirits, was never given the chance to put up a fight. Her tormentor, the so called 'old friend' had known all her strengths and weaknesses and had moved to neutralize her with a single blow. Then she was forced endure the knowledge that her own command seals would be used to subdue her servant and bind him to the bastard who betrayed them.

So now Bazett was laying on her side on the dirt covered floor, her clothing torn, her body riddled with wounds inflicted when she was attacked, and a bleeding stump where her left arm had been. She was going to die here, among these ruins, alone, with no one to witness or help, and even her body would never be found and would end up rotting in this husk of a building.

Tears, tears of both anger and pain, rolled down her cheeks as she weakly struggled to raise herself from the ground. Still in her subconscious mind she was determined to stop the bastard somehow. But even that last pathetic effort was brought to a stop as a foot clad in a neatly polished black shoe landed hard on her back and pushed her against the ground.

"Bazett" Kotomine Kirei loomed over the fallen girl like an executioner, or a judge. "I truly regret that it came to this, I have always admired your skills as a magus and your dedication to your goals. Its a sad thing that such a promising life must come to a sudden end like this"

The words, barely heard by the dying girl, still manged to fill her with impotent rage.

"Ba...Bastard!" Bazett managed to grind out through dry lips. "I hope you..." Her words turned into a wordless grunt of pain as Kirei stomped his foot on her back, hard, knocking the wind from her and stunning her.

"Don't worry it will be over soon" Kirei said as he withdrew his foot and made a fist. A black key, a conceptual weapon, the favored killing tool of an executor, materialized in his hand.

Suddenly Kirei stopped in his tracks and spun around.

He had felt the sudden wash of prana flow over him, and Kirei by the skill granted a master by the grail, recognized it as being the prana signature of a servant.

Even as he watched, its owner casually stepped into the building from the shadowed doorway, and a regal, commanding voice laced with a touch of mocking amusement spoke up.

"Well, well, well, it looks like I'm shockingly late for the party"

* * *

_end of chapter 4_

_Lelouch didn't do anything much in this chapter, lets hope he makes up for it in the next one. :)_

_I would also like some advice from everyone. What do you think I should do with Bazett? Should I give her a tragic death or should Lelouch sweep in and save her like a prince in a shiny mask? Her survival isn't essential to the plot. But it would give Lelouch a potential minion/harem candidate._

_Plus, does the chopping off of arms bump up the rating of this fic? Its currently K+, I'm unsure if I should raise the rating as things get more bloody._


	5. Chapter 5: Priests, Knights and Kings

_Hello again! This chapter holds the other half of the battle from chapter 4. And this chapter will present what the heroic spirit Lelouch looks like, along with more on his powers. Enjoy!_

* * *

Chapter 5: Priests, Knights and Kings

* * *

"Well, well, well. It looks like I'm shockingly late for the party"

Kotomine Kirei spun around to face the source of the voice, knowing without doubt that it belonged to a heroic spirit.

He came face to mask with a man wearing layered white robes trimmed in gold and purple and adorned with small gems. On his head he wore a hat shaped oddly like a crown and trimmed in the same gold and purple. The face under the hat was concealed behind an oval shaped mask made from a mirror like material. Kirei could tell that this was a heroic spirit, but that was all he could tell. He couldn't see his identity, he couldn't even witness the servants attributes. To his minds eye they seemed blurred, just out of his focus. It was the same with his appearance. There seemed to be a shifting layer of mana covering him that prevented Kirei from getting a clear look at him. In fact a voice at the back of the priests mind was telling him to forget the mans appearance every few seconds. And it was only through a supreme effort that he could ignore it.

"It has to be a noble phantasm" Kirei thought to himself, remembering the Berserker class servant from the last war who had a similar ability. "It conceals his identity and hides his strength"

Such a noble phantasm would give him an advantage when fighting the other enemy servants as they would have to face him not knowing his precise strength or identity. And being a passive ability, it was most likely very mana efficient. Allowing the user to keep it on permanently.

"But that doesn't help me right now, I'm facing off against a possibly hostile heroic spirit" Kirei thought. "Fighting him would be suicide. I have to try and talk my way out of this first"

"It would seem that your friend is in need of medical help Father, do you require any assistance with her?" The servant asked in his charismatic, resonating voice, gesturing to the girl bleeding out on the floor.

"I assume you know who she is?" Kirei queried. There was no other explanation for the way a servant had suddenly turned up in the building. He had known Bazett was an enemy master. And seeing a master alone, away from the protection of her servant, he had made his move. "You have no qualms about helping an enemy master?"

"Ah, but she is no longer an enemy master" Now a touch of mockery was creeping into the voice. And Kirei couldn't help but glance at the severed stump that remained of Bazett's left hand. "In fact, the only enemy master, or potential master, in this room" Now the priest was sure the servant was smiling behind that mask. "Is you, Kotomine Kirei"

Kirei's eyes widened at hearing the servant pronounce his name.

"Yes, I know who you are. And I'm quite surprised to find that the impartial mediator of the Grail War is planning to steal a servant from their rightful master" The white clad servant strolled further into the room, forcing Kirei to back away step by step. "It would seem that you are desperate to get your hands on the Grail, desperate enough to go this far. Which makes me very interested in you"

Now he was standing right next to the prone form of Bazett and Kirei was almost backed against the far wall of the room.

Kirei knew he was in trouble. The servant had caught him in the most vulnerable moment he could be in. With a command seal on his hand but no servant. It made him a target for enemy servants but left him no means of protection. Even his golden ally was not by his side today, and he harbored no illusions about his chances against a heroic spirit alone.

Kirei had prepared himself for the fight of his life, ready to summon his black keys and throw himself at the servant, when both of their attention was diverted.

A huge wave of prana washed over them. Its source coming closer by the second. It didn't take a genius to guess who was coming.

"It looks like the good servant is coming to check on his masters well being" The white clad spirit gave voice to Kirei's thoughts. "I trust you can explain things to him? I'll take my leave"

With that he had bent down, picked up an unconscious Bazett in his arms, and jumped out of the window, all before Kirei could quite comprehend what had happened.

The next instant, Lancer had come charging into the room through the door.

* * *

Lelouch ran at full speed through the streets of the abandoned neighborhood with the girl in his arms. He knew that his chances of surviving an encounter with a combat based heroic spirit, most likely Lancer, were very slim. He had to put some distance between himself and the Knight and then give him the slip. Under the unique circumstances, he was almost certain that Lancer would misread the situation and assume he was responsible for the attack on her master.

Just as the thought formed in his mind, he felt the prana signature of the girls servant start to move again. This time coming straight at him.

Not good. Maybe picking up the girl was not such a good idea. It had been a split second decision he'd made , as she was no longer a threat to him and would be an important source of information. But first of course, he had to be alive to get information out of her.

An enraged scream of. "You bastard! I'll Kill you!" Erupted from behind him as if to reinforce that thought.

Lelouch risked a glance backwards.

The blue clad spearman had finally caught sight of him, and was closing the distance fast. And judging by the speed at which the other hero ran, he had best avoid fighting him head to head.

Lelouch immediately ducked into the doorway of the nearest building and vanished once more from Lancers view.

* * *

Seconds later, Lancer reached the same doorway and leaped inside. Only to pull himself short at the last instant as a pair of swords buried themselves in the ground where he had been a second ago, throwing up clouds of dust and creating craters a meter deep. One glance was enough to tell him that they were not normal weapons, but had the unique aura of Noble Phantasms.

A surprised Lancer leaped back and looked up in the direction the weapons had come from, and was rewarded with the sight of a young blonde man standing on the buildings roof outlined against the starlit sky. His expression was mildly amused as he looked down on the knight beneath him dressed in black pants and a jacket of the same color, unbuttoned to show a white shirt underneath, his hands casually pushed into the pockets of his pants.

Lancer could feel nothing from this man, as far as his senses could tell he was neither servant nor magus. But the two Noble Phantasms he had used, and the golden ripples in the air behind him, from which protruded the heads of another dozen weapons, didn't jive with that at all. Who was he? A hero with some kind of Noble Phantasm that concealed his identity? Or a human with a Noble Phantasm? Both possibilities sounded equally unlikely to Lancer's tortured mind.

But he had no time to waste here, he had to catch up to Bazett's attacker. But just as he began moving, another weapon, this time a halberd flew at him, and he just barely manged to dodge it before it impaled him.

"Don't be so hasty mongrel" The golden youth smirked at the now infuriated Lancer. "It's way too early in the war for this kind of thing. You should stretch out your battles more. I'm not prepared to see my entertainment end so soon"

"Damn you!" Lancer ground his teeth as he kept a weary eye on the golden figure and cast his senses outwards, attempting to feel the presence of his quarry.

He could even now feel the other servants prana signature at the back of the building, maybe looking for a back door. Like he'd allow that! He gripped his spear in both hands and tried once more to dash inside only to return to dodging the golden bastards projectiles again.

Then suddenly the prana signature of the other servant vanished.

"No!" Lancer shouted even as he redoubled his effort to get past the rain of swords.

It was exactly as Bazett had described, an ability to conceal his presence completely, like the presence concealment of the Assassins. An according to Bazett, the bastard had easily given her the slip after using this ability. That would not happen this time, he had to get past this bastard!

Then suddenly, the unrelenting assault of the golden youth stopped.

An amazed Lancer looked up to find him cocking his head to the side as if listing for something.

"Interesting ability" The blonde said thoughtfully. "Well it looks as if he's gone. I'm done with you mongrel, have fun chasing after him" He waved lazily at Lancer and turned around, vanishing behind the roof of the building.

But by the time a now very angry Lancer had manged to charge out the back entrance of the building to a rubble and dirt filled ally, he could find no trace of the servant or Bazett. In increasing frustration he searched every nook and cranny of the ally and the street beyond. But still found nothing.

Finally, finally he had to admit that his masters slayer had evaded him. The time he had spent dodging the golden bastards rain of swords was probably used by him to activate that presence concealing ability. He had probably followed Bazett from the moment he broke away from her at that restaurant earlier today. Then he had followed her to her base and, when the opportunity presented itself, attacked her and severed her arm, removing her command seals and neutralizing her as a master. And not stopping there, he had taken her with him, either alive or dead.

The bastard. He was going to hunt him down, no matter where he hid himself.

* * *

Several blocks away, a passing motorist was suddenly forced to a sudden stop when a man carrying a woman in his arms stepped in front of his car. A closer look would have revealed that the woman was, in fact covered with blood. But the driver never had the time to take a closer look, the poor man barely managed to hit the brakes on time, and the car came to a stop mere inches from where the man calmly stood in the middle of the street.

The driver was still spluttering in shock when the strange man walked over to the drivers side door, still carrying his burden. The driver, now going from shocked to angry, lowered the window to shout several choice obscenities at him. However, he never got even the first word out before the man locked eyes with him.

"You will take me where I want to go, ask no questions, and forget all about this encounter afterwards"

* * *

It was early in the next morning and the two accomplices were once more holed up in their little abandoned church.

The little underground apartment looked very different now. One wall of it was completely covered with multiple computer screens that displayed footage beamed in from all three of the founding family residences. Lelouch was already deep into observing their potential enemies when C.C finally woke up and crawled out of bed.

"Good morning sleeping beauty" Lelouch said cheerfully over his shoulder as the disheveled and half naked form of the green haired witch staggered into the miniature bathroom without a word and slammed the door.

When she came back out Lelouch had returned to watching the monitors, and the first sign of her presence he felt was when she settled down on the chair next to his munching on a slice of pizza.

"You certainly took your time last night" She said by way of a greeting.

"I know, I'd really rather not go through that again" Lelouch replied with a groan. With the need to get Bazett the medical help she needed and making sure he had succeeded in evading all pursuit, it had been well into the small hours of the morning when Lelouch had returned. "Despite the valuable advantage we may have gained by it, that might have been a bit too...hasty of me"

"Admit it, you got a little too confident because you came back from the dead, a feeling of invincibility and infallibility" C.C's tone was almost teasing now. "You acted almost like that overconfident boy who went charging into Saimata to face off against Cornelia"

"That's quite enough" Lelouch groused as the witch smiled. "Look at these witch, the fruit of our labours" He indicated the wall of monitors.

"Found anything interesting among those?"

"Plenty" Lelouch looked smug as his fingers flew over the keyboard in his lap.

Several of the monitors changed to show closeup images of a large mansion, each monitor showing an individual room.

"Look at this one" He indicated one screen. "That's Tohsaka Rin, the last member of the Tohsaka clan, one of the founding families. Without a doubt she is one of the masters"

The monitor showed a young girl in her middle teens intently reading through a book. She was dressed in a black miniskirt and red blouse, with a neat little black necktie at her throat.

"She is without doubt the most vulnerable of the masters we know of" Lelouch continued. "She lives alone, has no allies that I can see, and regularly travels between her house to her school. She is the perfect target for an Assassin servant. The only question is, who is her servant? I haven't picked up any traces of one in her house, I can only assume they remain in spectral form until needed"

"How can we know for sure?" The witch asked, sounding interested now.

"We may have to draw her out like I did yesterday" Lelouch frowned. "Though in more controlled conditions this time"

His fingers worked the keyboard again, and once more the screens changed to show the interior of a different house. This one was much less opulent but had many more occupants.

"The Matou residence" Lelouch proclaimed, gesturing at the monitors. "We have two potential master candidates and one very suspicious old man"

"I know, he opened the door for me remember" The witch interrupted. "There is something very strange about him, almost as if he's not human"

"Zouken Matou, apparently a distant relative living with the family. But I agree with you that this man gives off a very odd vibe. I plan to look deeper into him, but in the meantime he's definitely on our list of people to keep under careful surveillance. But look at them"

He indicated two separate screens, each of which showed a teenager with purple hair going through household chores. One was a thin boy with a mop of hair parted in the middle and looking rather arrogant and superior. The other was a girl with straight shoulder length hair and a round face that looked...for lack of a better word, sweet. The girl was in the kitchen at the back of the house, cleaning a pile of dishes. And the boy was in his room, cleaning it of what looked like a ton of junk.

"Shinji and Sakura Matou, brother and sister. I'm almost sure that one of them is the Matou master, but there is no way to tell for sure unless we check their hands for a command seal"

"We can always mug them in the street I suppose" C.C opined. "What about the Matou servant? Did you find one? Or are you going to have to draw this one out as well?"

"Unfortunately I couldn't find one" Lelouch admitted. "I was worried about this, surveillance is not going to give us the goods on the servants. We are going to have work a lot harder to learn about them than we did to learn about their masters"

"So far we only know about two servants, not counting you" C.C looked thoughtful. "But on the plus side, we at least know what class the Einzbern servant is, _and_ we have identified one servant positively. Not only that we also know about his Noble Phantasm"

"Yes" Lelouch smirked. "The Hound of Ireland. Cu Cuchulain himself. Who wields Gae Blog, the cursed spear that always strikes the heart. And what's more, he's been summoned in the lancer class. One of the three Knight servants. He will be a dangerous foe, despite his sub-par performance so far"

A moment later he corrected himself. "Of course he _might_ be a dangerous foe. He has lost his link to his master. And unless he makes another contract, he will fade"

"You are thinking about that priest aren't you? You think he might be Lancers master now"

"It's a strong possibility. I don't know enough about the man to tell for sure" Lelouch frowned. "The man was a completely random variable. I'll admit that he took me completely by surprise. The best explanation I could come up with for his actions is that he wants the Grail for himself, and he has to steal another masters servant to get it"

"Kotemine Kirei" C.C pronounced the name. "Another person to add to your watch list"

"Definitely" Lelouch nodded with approval. "That man certainly warrants closer investigation. And until otherwise confirmed, we must assume that Lancer is still active"

"But do You really think that Lancer will make a contract with the man who almost killed his master?"

"Remember that Lancer never saw what happened, he might very well think that I attacked his master and the priest was an innocent bystander. Or that the priest and I worked together to betray the girl" Lelouch looked exasperated. "Which was why my deciding to get involved was questionable. Regardless, the heroic spirits who choose to fight for the grail desperately wish for something that only a miracle can grant. And it's very likely that even under these circumstances, even if he doesn't trust the priest, Lancer would take the chance to remain in the fight, if it was offered"

Lelouch tapped another set of keys. This time the monitors changed to show the interior of the huge Einzbern mansion where Illya and her maids could be seen going about their day.

"As for Berserker, he and his master have already proved very useful so far. They might continue to be so, but we need to find that servants identity and a way to defeat him if the need arises"

"Because he has the potential to be extremely dangerous if he, or rather his master, got out of control"

"Yes" Lelouch mused. "I have several theories about who he is. And how he could have been uninjured by a Noble Phantasm"

"Such as?"

"You said it was a B+ rank didn't you? Well maybe it takes an A rank to penetrate his hide, or maybe it can only be penetrated at a single point"

"You mean Achilles?" C.C inquired. "How will you confirm that? Walk up to him and just poke him in the heel?"

"We can send him against a servant with an A rank Noble Phantasm and see what happens. Or we can just ask his master" Lelouch grinned as they watched the figure of the tiny Einzbern master walk over to an ornate telephone and pick it up. "After all, she has been cooperative enough so far"

He was interrupted by the sound of his mobile phone going off.

"Speak of the devil" He said after glancing at the caller id. "Good morning to you Miss Einzbern, I trust my information was useful?"

"_It was. We found the master and servant pair exactly where you said they'd be. But both of them managed to get away_" Illya's voice on the other side said.

"Well I'm sorry to hear that, but that's hardly my fault now is it? I showed you where they were, what happened after that was your responsibility"

"_I'm not complaining! But don't think you have me fooled either sir!" __Her voice changed suddenly __to __take on __an almost smug tone__.__"Its not a hard guess that you are an enemy master who is only helping me so I can fight your enemies for you. __Well __I'm willing to play along. Because my Berserker is the strongest servant there is, and I can defeat the other servants and then finish you. For nothing you do, no weapon you have, can stop Berserker. In the end, all you achieve is a delay in defeat_"

"How spirited of you Miss Einzbern" Lelouch grinned. "But does this mean that you wont be accepting my help again? Or are you simply warning me in advance so I can...put my affairs in order"

"_I told you that I could see through your trick, not that I wont make use of your information_"

"Of course. After all, my first tipoff proved to be accurate, and you won't be willing to alienate a good information source, even if you know for sure that he is playing you" Lelouch smiled up at the girl on the computer screen, who was now pacing back and fourth, telephone clutched to her ear.

"..." Silence from the other end.

"Very well, let us agree to play each other Miss Einzbern. Have a nice day. I'll be sure to contact you again if I have more information for you"

"_Wait_" Illya demanded from the Einzbern mansion.

"Yes?" Lelouch raised an eyebrow.

The onscreen Illya was clearly hesitating, no doubt debating about weather she should speak what was in her mind. But after some more pacing she finally spoke up again.

"_Since...since you seem to be so good at gathering information, could you find information on something for me? Someone actually_"

"Who?"

"_His name is Shirou, Shirou Emiya, he is a magus and potential master. I would you to find outeverything you can about him, as well as keeping an eye on him_"

"You want me to watch some random magus who might be a master? Very well, but expect something in return"

"_What? What do yo_u want?" Illya demanded from the other end of the line.

Lelouch smirked never taking his eyes off the girl on the monitor "Something simple really...the name of your servant"

To his surprise, the girl actually laughed at that. "_I told you already, there is nothing you can do even if you know who he is. When the time comes he will defeat your servant with the same ease he does the others. So...do you still want the name?_"

Well, the she certainly sounds confidant, Lelouch thought as he answered. "Of course Miss Einzbern, call it curiosity, but wouldn't anyone want to know by whose hand their servant falls. And in exchange I'll get you your information"

"_Very well, he is Heracles, the mightiest of the heroes, and he cannot die. Do you understand? He cannot die. Even if you do kill him by some miracle, he will get up again, and again, and again, until you have killed him twelve times!_"

"How terrifying" Lelouch intoned, sounding nothing of the sort. "I can see that the outcome of this war has already been decided. But thank you for the information Miss Einzbern. I will keep my end of the bargain and get back to you soon. Until then, have a good day"

With that he ended the conversation and put the phone away, leaning back in his chair to stare at the ceiling.

"Well that was certainly interesting" Lelouch remarked as the onscreen Illya slammed the phone down on its holder.

"Shirou Emiya" He remembered a young magus he had met, quite by accident, in his first day at Fuyuki. "What a coincidence"

* * *

Lancer was watching the sun come up above Fuyuki as he leaned against his spear, standing on the roof of the same building the golden youth had attacked him from. Even now, as the seconds trickled by, he could feel himself fade. He had fought a major battle with an enemy servant, used his Noble Phantasm, and chased after his masters attacker to no avail. All this and not once had he replenished his prana. He didn't have the independent action skill of the Archer class, and it was a miracle he had held on this long.

The sound of footsteps behind him interrupted his reverie, and the spearman turned to face the person behind him.

"Well Lancer? Have you reached a decision?" Kotomine Kirei asked. Looking the servant square in the eye.

"I'm still not sure if can trust you Kotomine" Lancer snarled. "I suddenly loose my master and behold! You stand there with a command seal all ready to contract with me. Even if I believe the story about that enemy servant attacking Bazett, I'm not so sure you had nothing to do with it, or with that blonde guy. One way to explain it would be that they are both your allies, and they worked with you to lead Bazett into a trap"

"I understand your doubts. I wont claim that I'am a saint Lancer, but consider this. If you fade away now, you have thrown the war away, and you have abandoned the Grail"

At that Lancer gritted his teeth and ground his spear butt against the concrete. But Kirei continued, unrelenting.

"You have a wish don't you servant Lancer? Or rather Heroic Spirit Cu Cuchulain. If you abandon this chance you have given up your attempt at achieving that wish " Kirei peeled back the sleeve of his left hand to expose his command seals. "If you choose to fade away, you have abandoned your former master without even attempting to avenge her. That, is no way for a _hero_ to conduct himself"

"Shut up!" Lancer snarled at the priest, before turning his back on him to stare at the rising sun once more, his crimson spear held in a death grip.

He stood like that for several long minutes before turning once more to face the priest.

"Very well priest. I will take your contract, to win the Grail, and avenge Bazett"

"Exellent" Despite all his effort, Kirei couldn't help himself and his lips twitched into an almost smile.

He held out his hand, palm outwards, with the other hand coming up to grip his wrist.

"I hereby propose, that my will shall forge thy body! And thy sword shall forge my destiny!"

* * *

_chapter 5 ends._

_And so the first battle of the grail war concludes. But the outcome is a bit sketchy. Our protagonist may have miscalculated when he intervened, as now he has gained the attention of powerful enemies. But since when has that stopped Lelouch. :)_

_Also I want to thank everyone who helped out with the advice. I've raised the rating to T to reflect the violence level of the story. Also Lelouch rescued Bazett. But, as I said above, at the cost of powerful enemies._

_I was planning to give a clue to Lelouch's class in this chapter, but due to this being too long, it has been put off until the next. _

_I'm also including a little section below that explains the Noble Phantasm Lelouch has been using. I hope you'll like the idea. And also hope it' will clear up any questions you have about it.  
_

_Thank you for reading. See you next chapter. :) _

* * *

Fuji-TV: The Holy Grail Show!

"Helo everyone! Welcome to the Holy Grail Show! This is the place where _you_ get to meet the masters and servants taking part in the grail war now sweeping fuyuki! We will also be discussing their Noble Phantasms and other unique abilities. I'm your host, Illyasviel von Einzbern!"

Spotlights flicked on and focused on Illya, who was dressed in a cute little business suit and holding a microphone.

"So...as our very first guests. We have the master servant pair that everyone is talking about! Lelouch vi Britannia and Miss C.C" Illya gestured dramatically, and the spotlights shifted to illluminate another couch opposite her, upon which were seated the former 99th emperor and the gray witch.

"Lelouch-sama, C.C -san, thank you for coming"

"Thank you for inviting us" Lelouch replied cordially.

"Well lets get right to it" Illya grinned. "Lelouch, everyone is curious about your Noble Phantasm, wont you explain it to us"

"Gladly" Lelouch smiled. "Its in the shape of a mask, the same size and shape as a Japanese Noh mask, only featureless and made of a mirror-like reflective material" Lelouch was starting to adopt a lecturers tone. "While I'm wearing it, my identity is concealed and even hides my attributes. Even when wearing civilian cloths the mask can be kept on as it becomes fully transparent and impossible to detect. This of course means that I can deal with other masters and servants and even walk through the crowded city wearing civilian cloths without any fear of them recognizing the demon emperor. Also if I fight an enemy servant I have a slight advantage because they dont know my strength. This concealment is a passive ability, so its permanently on and only requires a trickle of prana"

"Facinating, do go on" Illya encouraged him.

"Gladly" Lelouch was clearly enjoying this. "The mask has a second ability, as you have no doubt seen. To activate it I must channel prana into the mask. This ability is temporary, and how long I can use it depends on how much prana I put into the mask. But, it allows me to assume the identity of any human or heroic spirit, so long as I've met them previously. It doesn't give me their powers or Noble Phantasms, just the looks, but otherwise its a perfect illusion. And, the best part is, if I assume the form of a normal human, then my prana signature and my status of servant are both completely concealed for as long as the illusion remains active"

"Aha! So thats how you did it" Illya clapped her hands.

"Exactly. In both occasions I got out of sight, used my mask to assume the identity of a normal human and then simply walked away" Lelouch said smugly. "As long as I'm not directly in my enemies line of sight I can use this trick"

"Thats certainly useful" Illya enthused. "But i wonder what could have given rise to a Noble Phantasm like that?"

It was C.C who answered.

"He has lived his entire life behind a mask. In front of his Black Knights he wore a mask, in front of the Japanese people he wore a mask, in front of Britannia he wore a mask, in front of his school, he wore a mask, even in front of his beloved sister he wore a mask, and finally in front of the entire world, he wore a mask. And each mask was made up of a hundered lies, none of those masks were him. But in time, the real Lelouch was buried beneath his masks, no one could see the real Lelouch. It's small wonder that living a life like that would produce such a Noble Phantasm"

"No wonder they call him the prince of lies!" Illya marveled. "I wonder what else he has tucked inside those robes. But unfortunately, thats all we have time for today! Don't forget to tune in next time for more exiting glimpses into, The Holy Grail War!"

Illya waved at the camera as the curtain fell and the lights went out.

* * *

end hgs.


	6. Chapter 6: Meetings and Plans

_Hello everyone! Chapter 6 awaits.  
_

* * *

Chapter 6: Meetings and Plans

* * *

"This is where the pawns of our games end up eventually", Lelouch thought as he walked down the corridor of the Fuyuki city hospital. "Either in a ward or in the morgue"

A doctor wearing a white lab coat was leading the way, finally stopping at a door flanked on both sides by two muscular orderlies.

"Here we are sir" The doctor said as he swiped his id card to open the door. "This entire wing has been sealed off as you requested, the CCTV cameras have been disconnected, also no records are maintained of the patients treatment"

"Excellent" Lelouch nodded his approval as he walked along, his hands behind his back. "And I trust you have been providing her with the best of care?"

"Of course sir" The doctor nodded vigorously. "Our best physicians have been seeing to her treatment around the clock, all sworn to secrecy as you requested"

"I'd like to meet with them before I leave doctor" Lelouch glanced over at the man walking beside him. "Please see to it. I would personally like to take their oath of secrecy on this matter"

"Of course sir, it will be done" The doctor nodded. "But you have no need to fear, a doctor is always sworn to secrecy about his patients"

"All the same, see to it" Lelouch smiled slightly.

"Of course sir, Of course" The doctor nodded vigorously. "Ah here we are"

They had arrived at a large square glass window that showed a large white tilled room on the other side. In the middle of the room they could see a large hospital bed surrounded with iv drips, life sign monitors and other paraphernalia. The sole occupant of the room lay on that bed, with only her head visible above the white sheet that covered her.

"So how is she?" Lelouch inquired, casting a critical eye on the scene.

"She has finally stabilized, but other wise I'm afraid she has a long road to recovery ahead of her" the doctor shook his head sadly. "She has lost a lot of blood, she has several cracked ribs and numerous cuts across her body. And of course there is the missing hand"

"I see" Lelouch frowned. "So I would assume her recovery will take a long time?"

"I'm afraid so sir" The doctor sighed. "She was almost dead when you bought her here, if you had been even a few minutes late. Well, but now like I said, shes out of danger, but not recovered"

"I understand, we have to be realistic" Lelouch said as he turned to face the doctor. "But remember this doctor, I want to be informed the moment her condition changes"

The doctor bowed. "Of course sir"

* * *

C.C was waiting in the hospital lobby when Lelouch got back.

"Not good news I take it" The witch said as she got to her feet and followed him out.

"I should have expected it really, with the kind of injury she suffered, its going to take weeks, if not months to recover" Lelouch sighed. "The most we can hope for is for her to regain consciousness quickly and give us information on her servant and that priest"

"She might not be willing to share" C.C reminded him.

"She need not be willing, she just has to be lucid and able to speak" Lelouch countered as they entered the hospital car park.

"How ruthless of you my warlock" The witch said in a mock surprised tone. "Didn't you just risk life and limb to save this same girl from death"

"Stop that C.C" Lelouch said firmly. "You of all people know how I think. I do not wish to harm the girl, seeing as she is out of the running now. But I will not hold back if she has knowledge that will help us in the battles to come"

He pulled open the passenger side door of their car and held it open for her before going around the car to get into the drivers seat.

As the car pulled away C.C patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry Lelouch, you yourself said the girl is just a bonus, we will mange just fine, with or without any help she can give us"

"Bazett" Lelouch said absently as he turned into the main road. "Her name is Bazett"

* * *

Sometime later they pulled up in front of the local school "Homurahara High", and parked across the street.

"Here we are, the war would be halfway won if we just blew up the school" Lelouch chuckled. "Two masters and one potential master out of action. Too bad all the other kids are in the way"

"What's this? The Demon is holding back because he fears for the lives of innocent school children?" C.C was acting surprised again. "Mine ears deceive me"

"Yes well, keep it to yourself" Lelouch grinned back at the witch. "After all I have a reputation to maintain"

"It will cost you"

"Pizza, I know" He finished for her before opening the door of the car and stepping out into the street.

"This won't take long, take care of things on your end and we'll meet back at the church later"

"You leave all the hard work for me" C.C groused as she slid into the drivers seat and put the car into gear.

As she drove away, Lelouch turned and began to walk up to the school gates. His plan was simple at this stage, find out as much as he could about the magus called Emiya. He had waited until after school hours to avoid alerting the two masters already inside the school. As he really didn't want to be caught in another battle so soon.

He came up to the lone security guard, a man of middle years, at the school gate and locked eyes with him.

"Let me pass. And forget about this meeting afterwards"

"Yes sir" The guard saluted as he opened the gate.

* * *

An hour later Lelouch was walking down the corridors of the main school building, returning from a very productive meeting in the principals office, when he felt it.

A presence, not quite heroic spirit, not quite magus and not quite human. And it was right behind him. Whatever it was it was invoking completely irrational feelings of revulsion and hate from inside him. Lelouch spun around to face the source of the disturbance, and found a teenaged girl with purple hair standing at the end of the corridor watching him.

Sakura Matou, he recognized her from the surveillance footage. One of the possible master candidates for the Matou clan. What was she doing here? Had she recognized him as a servant? Even so, what was the reason for this girl giving off such an aura? Even if she was a master she was only human, but what he was feeling from her right now was anything but.

Even as these thoughts crossed his mind, the girl started coming closer step by step, until a moment later she was standing right in front of him. Her purple eyes were looking at him unblinking, with an expression Lelouch could only describe as...hungry.

"I'm sorry" The voice was wrong too. On the surface it was the voice of a young girl, but, he couldn't shake the feeling that someone else, someone much older and male was talking in tandem with the girl.

"When I felt you so close, I couldn't help myself. I had to see you for real"

Not very comforting words. Not that anything about this situation was comforting in any way. This girl was definitely not your average magus. Something about her screamed inhuman. Even more inhuman than the code bearers and the heroic spirits.

"You are Sakura Matou are you not? Or am I mistaken?" Lelouch carefully tensed his body, preparing for trouble. The question was double worded, he knew who the girl was, but he didn't know what else the girl was.

"You are very perceptive your majesty" The girl said, her lips smiling. But again the smile was wrong, it wasn't a young girls smile. It was as if a much older, much more malicious man was smiling through the girl.

"I have always wondered what it would be like to meet someone else who had to bear the same burden as I. It's good to know that you are not alone in the world, even for the likes of me" The girl sighed almost happily.

"Good bye for now your majesty, I will be eagerly anticipating your victory"

With those last words, Sakura Matou collapsed bonelessly onto the floor.

* * *

Sakura woke up later in the school infirmary and, when questioned by the school nurse, had no recollection of how she ended up there. Lelouch had carried her there, not knowing what else to do, and had told the nurse he had found the girl passed out in the corridor.

He now stood next to the infirmary door watching the nurse fuss over the girl, having come to the conclusion that she had passed out from overexertion at after school sports. Still, it hadn't been without a stroke of luck coming his way. He had checked the girls left wrist and found no command seals. So now he knew who the Matou master was. But that didn't explain the strange behavior of the girl. From both her strange words and the feeling she gave off as she was speaking, it was obvious that something was not as it seemed with her.

"First the grandfather and now the granddaughter" Lelouch thought to himself. "The Matou family really is a collection of mysteries"

As he stood there musing, two figures burst into the room. One was a redhead dressed in boys version of the school uniform. As for the other, she was a young woman in her early twenties with short brown hair and large brown eyes, dressed in a traditional Japanese gi and carrying a shinai of all things. Both of them wore identical concerned expressions on their faces as they moved to the girls bedside.

"Sakura! Are you ok? What happened?" The boy was the first to speak.

The girls response was to turn an interesting shade of crimson, as she mumbled something along the lines of, "I'm fine sempai"

The next instant the boy was elbowed aside by the shinai wielding woman as she enveloped the Matou girl in a hug and assured, or rather declared, dramatic voice and all, that her that her "Fuji-nee" would look after her in her hour of illness.

It was a mildly amusing, and rather cute, spectacle for the watching Lelouch. This was the kind of thing that used to happen far too often during his own school days back at Ashford. The Matou girls plainly obvious crush on the equally plainly oblivious boy along with the antics of the young woman were weirdly reminiscent of how his own friends in the student council used to act. Thinking about his old school friends was bringing up a host of memories, both amusing and, he admitted to himself, endearing.

"Innocent days" Lelouch thought to himself. "It was only later, after I had lost it for good that I realized that Ashford was one of the few places where I had been happy. Even with the endless bore of classes and Milly and her ridiculous festivals" He felt his lips quirk upwards slightly. "Even the festivals weren't so bad. Not that I'd ever admit that even under pain of death"

"But now half of us are dead and the other half marked for life by war" He was thinking of Nina, who had to live with the knowledge that she created the weapon that was used to kill people in their millions, and Kallen, who had a river of blood on her hands by wars end. "The war started and waged by _me_. At the very least I hope that Milly and Rivalz found happiness at the end"

Even as these thoughts were going through his head, the redheaded boy was turning towards him, having picked himself up from the floor where he had landed after being elbowed.

"Hello, sir" The boy spoke up brightly. "I want to thank you for helping Sakura, it was really very kind of you"

"No thanks necessary, just doing what anyone would do" Lelouch replied pleasantly. "You are Shirou Emiya are you not? I remember you from that bar you work in"

"Oh, ah, yes" The boy scratched the back of his head. "I kind of remember you too. You stopped by a couple of days ago"

"Thats right. It was a part time job for you I take it"

"Yeah, my parents are deceased and I kind of live on my own, so I have to manage"

"I see" Lelouch nodded in sympathy.

"Shirou!" The voice of the young lady erupted from behind them. "We need to take Sakura home and give her plenty of rest"

"I'm really ok Fuji-sempai" A timid voiced Sakura protested from behind her.

"Nonsense, you need to take it easy Sakura. Don't you worry, Fuji-nee will take care of everything. Shirou" She yelled in the same breath. "Find a way to take her home" That last one was a command, and Shirou immediately leaped to obey.

"Hai Fuji-nee, do you mean her house or mine though?"

"Yours of course! Where else can we see to it that she gets her rest? And thank you so much kind sir! For coming to the rescue of our poor Sakura" Those last words were addressed to Lelouch. This young woman's words seemed to almost trip over themselves when she was speaking, so eager to get out.

Lelouch, unphased by the sudden shift in attention towards him, bowed and gave the same polite answer he gave Shirou. Which produced the same awkward head scratching reaction. Then, on impulse he asked them how they intended to take the Matou girl home. And when he found out that non of them had a car between them, he offered them a lift.

Several minutes of protesting later, the offer was accepted, and Lelouch excused himself to step out into the street and flag a passing car, politely requesting the motorist to hand over his vehicle.

Soon enough they were all piled into the car and Lelouch was driving them in the direction of the Emiya residence. He knew the address already, having looked it up on Illyasviel's behalf, but listened with half an ear to Shirou's directions so as not to appear suspect.

On the short drive over, he learned a lot about the trio. For one, the young woman was called Fujimura Taiga, and was their English teacher as well as teacher in charge of the Kendo and Archery clubs. Sakura had been staying after school for archery practice, while Shirou had stayed because he had been asked to repair a broken air conditioner by the class president.

The Emiya residence turned out to be a good sized Japanese style house situated in the suburbs, not far from the Matou residence. When Lelouch turned the "borrowed" car into the drive and parked, his three passengers invited him into the house, and when he accepted and stepped inside, it somehow turned into an invitation to stay for dinner. His attempts to protest were overruled by a vote of three to one, with Taiga waving her shinai in his face for emphasis, though he was sure, well almost sure, that it was unintentional.

* * *

Sometime Lelouch sat cross legged on the floor of the Emiya residence, with Taiga sitting across from him. The two were swapping stories while dinner was being prepared. As soon as he gave his consent Shirou had retreated to the kitchen, with Sakura following, the purple haired girl insisting that she was fine now and needed no rest. Now Taiga was telling him about the city and her work, Lelouch having introduced himself as a Britannian come to Fuyuki on business. He learned that Taiga was a frequent visitor to the Emiya residence, having served as surrogate parent to Shirou since his adopted father passed away. Her grandfather, Raiga Fujimura, was taking care of Shirou's finances at the behest of his deceased adopted father. But the boy was, according to her, "Stupid stubborn", and insisted on working for his upkeep at a local bar.

"He reminds me a bit of an old friend of mine" Lelouch smiled. "He was also what you might call "Stupid stubborn", and drove me to my wits end"

Taiga grinned at him. "Seems we have that in common Lelouch-san, one stupid stubborn kid each to put up with"

"True, though if Shirou is anything like my friend, I'm sure that despite all the stubbornness and stupidity, he has a good heart"

"I heard that" Shirou grinned as he stepped into the room. "Dinner's ready. Come on Lelouch-san, you'd better dig in before Fuji-nee eats everything up"

Indeed, said woman was already on her feet and moving at the mention of the words "ready", and "dinner", pausing only to whack Shirou on the head with her shinai. It didn't look as if she ever parted company with that weapon.

Dinner was a pleasant affair, with all four of them sitting around the traditional Japanese table and devouring the food set before them. Lelouch, who had been subsiding entirely on a diet of pizza till now, found that the variety and excellent taste of the dishes before him was doing wonders on his appetite. Not that he needed to eat as a Heroic Spirit, but he enjoyed good food as much as the next man. And endless days of nothing but pizza to look forward to can make an impression.

During the course of dinner, Lelouch learned that Sakura often came over in the afternoons to help Shirou around the house and cook dinner. With Taiga coming over to help them eat it. Despite Shirou's claim that his parents were gone and that he lived alone, these three seemed to have made an impromptu family, and seemed to enjoy each others company as well as take comfort in it. It reminded him of how things used to be with himself, Nuanally and Sayako at Ashford before he started on his road that ended at the Throne of Heroes. This house, and these people, gave off that same homely feeling.

Indeed, Lelouch found himself actually enjoying himself as he engaged in small talk with the teens and Taiga. Listening to their stories about their day to day lives and telling them stories about Britannia and other places he had traveled to.

Sitting here in this happy little gathering and watching Taiga laughing at his stories as Sakura wiped soy sauce from Shirou's chin, it was easy to forget that the Holy Grail war was raging outside. It was easy to forget that one of these teens might become a potential master at any moment and turn hostile. That one of the Masters already in the war had asked him to find as much information as possible on the same teen, it was so important to her that she had been willing to part with the name of her servant to get that information. And how Sakura, whose voice and sweet and happy now, had spoken to him in a very different voice, or how the innocent smile that gazed her face now had been very different before.

* * *

On the street outside the Emiya residence, a little way down the road, a van was parked that appeared to be empty. However in the back of the van a Britannian man with blonde hair and military bearing was training a powerful telescope on the Emiya residence. Aimed at the dinning room window where the outlines of four people were visible.

"She is in the house, what do you want me to do?" He spoke into the earpiece he wore.

"_Keep monitoring her, __don__'__t stop until__ she goes to her house_" Ordered an authoritative female voice through the speaker.

"Understood"

With that the Britannian went back to watching the house, and half a city away, Nonette Enneagram switched off the comm unit and turned to face the former earl standing beside her.

"Are you sure about this girl Eduard? We are going through a lot of trouble for this one girl. I'd hate to be disappointed"

"I'm sure" Eduard Grayspire, former earl and current master, answered her. "I talked with an associate of mine in the clock tower who knew the former head of the Tohsaka clan quite well. According to him Sakura Matou was born Sakura Tohsaka, and that she was adopted by the Matou, _because_ their own heir didn't have any magic circuits. Rest assured, she is the Matou master. She is the only choice"

"The girl seems to follow a routine, and she almost never deviates" The former Knight said. "We have spent enough time observing, it's time to act"

"So we take out the girl first and knock the Matou out of the war"

"Yes, about that" Nonette looked slightly amused. "I've been thinking about what you told me. About the command seals and how a master can loose their servant. And I have changed the plan"

"..." Came the shocked response of her companion.

"Here is what we are going to do. First we have to determine if her servant accompanies the girl on her trips to school and this boys house. Then we send Assassin to launch an attack on the Matou residence. This will prompt her to send out her servant to counter the attack. But, it will also separate the girl from her servant. Then when she is alone without her servant to protect her, we grab her and force her to give us her command seals. This way we have two servants to our cause, and have taken out an enemy master as well"

"..." Eduard was still speechless.

"Oh, shut your mouth man, you look like a goldfish" That jolted the man into speech.

"Are you mad? Assassin isn't a frontline fighter! And the Matou are a founding family, they'd have gone for a knight class. Besides, we already have a servant, and you want to risk loosing him just for the off chance of gaining another one? All we have to do to win the war is to kill the other masters. We start with the founders and then draw out the other three in turn, there is no need to try something so risky just so..."

"Silence" A single word from Nonette stopped the monologue.

"Good, now listen to me Eduard" She started talking in a calm but firm voice. "First, I know Assassin is no warrior, but he is what we have to work with. Second, he doesn't have to go toe to toe with the enemy servant, he just has to keep them occupied while we take the girl. Third, this is war Eduard, and in war you have to move decisively if you seek to gain anything. Besides, you yourself said that Assassin is a stealth oriented fighter, and the Matou servant is most likely a combat oriented one. If this plan works we will have a stealthy servant and a combat servant working for us. A well balanced duo like that will open up many more options than your original plan"

Before Eduard could answer, another voice beat him to it.

"It is a well thought out plan" The disembodied voice of the Assassin said even as the servant materialized to stand next to Eduard. "It risks a lot and hopes to gain a lot. I have no complaints about carrying it out master, I believe I can keep this enemy servant at bay without actually engaging in a serious battle"

Eduard sighed and rubbed his temples with his fingers, he knew when he was overruled. No matter how much he protested every member of their little group was more likely to take their orders from Nonette than from him. After all she was the former Knight of Nine, one of the heroes of the true Britannia. The only person he had who was really loyal to him was his servant, and if even the masked killer was siding with her, then he was truly left with no choice. Besides, now that he was thinking about it, her plan did have a lot of promise, except that it risked so much. Maybe that was what came with being a knight and battlefield commander, she was ready to make gambles that he, a noble wouldn't even dare dream about.

"Very well, very well. I'll be the first to admit that I'm a mage first and solider second. You are a much better tactician than me Lady" He nodded at Nonette. "Lets do it your way"

"Good, in fact there is no point in wasting time. Lets do it tomorrow"

Eduard sighed again, well the good news was that his servant was the only thing this woman was calling on him to risk on this mission.

"Of course you have to join the assault on the girl. You are the mage, so it's up to you to handle the transfer of command seals"

"Shit"

* * *

It was well into the night when Lelouch finally left the Emiya residence.

He had promised Shirou and Sakura that he will return to have dinner with them again and assured Taiga that he will be sure to drop in at her dojo soon to check out her Kendo skills. As he put the stolen car in gear and drove away, he couldn't help but feel that things have gotten even more complicated with the Matou family. In addition to the creepy grandfather he now had Sakura to figure out as well. But the day hadn't been without its good points. He had learned a lot from the school records, and he had found the time to ask Shirou some questions in private. He now had all the information he needed on the boy. It would certainly be interesting to see how Illyasviel would react to what he had learned.

Lelouch couldn't help smiling as the car sped along the Fuyuki streets. The grail war was like a chess match, a seven sided chess match. He looked forward to seeing how his opponents would play...

* * *

At the Kotomine church, the resident priest was pacing his study, his hands clasped behind his back and head bowed, when he was interrupted by the sound of a footstep behind him.

"Still thinking about the mystery servant?" Gilgamesh smirked as he prowled into the study.

"I see he had caught your attention as well" Kirei stopped his pacing to regard the King of Heroes. "Lancer told me how you covered his retreat"

"I admit he intrigued me" Gilgamesh said as he collapsed into the couch that sat at one corner of the study. "Most servants would take the opportunity to get rid of an enemy master, this one went out of his way to rescue one"

"Not quite, he knew she had lost her command seals. He knew she was out of the running. But he still saved her"

"Ho ho, even more intriguing. Maybe he was after something as trivial as information, even if she no longer has her servant, she knows his strength and weakness. Not to mention" Here the King of Heroes grinned. "She knows your strength and weakness Kirei"

"Thats what concerns me" Kirei admitted. "He recognized me. He called me by name. And now he knows I have an "undue interest" in the grail war" His face turned grim. "Even if Bazett never survived or told him nothing, he and his master now count me as an enemy"

"Who is his master? You should know after all"

"I have no idea" Kirei admitted. "They never introduced themselves to the church. And now I'm sure they never will"

"No matter, I'm sure we will meet again as the war progresses. It's only a matter of time"

"Very probably" Kirei agreed. "Still I wonder what he plans to do with poor Bazett"

He smirked at Gilgamesh's raised eyebrow. "I talked with him remember? Whatever reason he had for taking the girl, I know for certain it wasn't out of the kindness of his heart"

* * *

"He has no idea about the grail war. He also has no idea about magecraft beyond the bare basics" Lelouch snapped into the phone. "How many times must I repeat myself? Shirou Emiya is as likely to summon a servant as the prime minister of Japan"

"_But he has to summon!_" The girl was getting downright irritating. "_He has to enter the war!_"

"What is your obsession with this boy? He is just an average mage who I'm sure you never met before in your life" Actually he had asked the boy if he had ever met her.

"_That is non of your bus__i__ness!_" Illyasviel von Einzbern snapped. "_I want you __to __help me __see to it that __he summons a servant_"

Lelouch sighed and looked across the room at C.C, who was laying in bed again, listening to the conversation with a smirk on her face, no help there at all. He turned back the the speaker phone and asked the obvious question.

"Assuming I do help you add another pair of enemies to this already raging war, what is in it for me?"

"_Well, __I can eliminate __other __enemy servants on your behalf, __you know how strong Berserker is_"

"Miss Einzbern, defeating the other servants is a goal we both share, its hardly adequate payment for what you want me to do don't you agree?"

"_Fine, what do you want __then__?_" Illya demanded.

"As a matter of fact, I can think of something that would be adequate" Lelouch smirked at the phone.

Later after he had hung up and and gone back to reading through the piles of printouts that contained all the information on the war that they had gathered so far, C.C decided to speak up.

"You are terrible with children Lelouch"

A wordless growl was her only response.

"Still you were very eager to agree to her plan"

"What do you mean" Lelouch spun his chair around to look at her.

"Didn't you just have dinner with that boy? Now you plan to turn him into our enemy and drag him into this war"

"I had dinner with them, and helped them get that girl to the house, because I saw the opportunity to learn more about two people who are relevant to the war. Granted the people were nice, and the food was delicious, but I knew I couldn't afford to get too close to them. They were after all potential enemies"

"It seems I'm always dragging you into situations that require you to lie to people. Good people at that. In the end you end up getting alienated and despised" C.C said in her usual monotone, but Lelouch had learned long ago to read her moods.

"I wouldn't worry about it" Lelouch smirked. "Being alienated or despised makes no difference to me. After all, the only companionship I need is right here"

He was rewarded by her Cheese-kun plushy hitting him in the face.

* * *

_end of chapter 6_

_Not much action in this chapter. But it gives a glimpse of what the main story arc will be, and sets the stage for the action packed chapters that will follow. This chapter also showed what became of bazett after the rescue. I felt it was a bit inappropriate if she just simply recovered after taking that kind of damage. Please tell me what you think of the direction the fic is going._

_Also I want to say thank you to all you guys who read this and encouraged me to keep writing. Its much appreciated. :)_


	7. Chapter 7: Chosen by the Grail

_Hello there! I'm back after a rather long delay to pick up where I left off. In this chapter, for the first time, I shift the focus from Lelouch to other characters. This chapter also marks the beginning of a more intense phase in the grail war. Enjoy._

* * *

Chapter 7: Chosen by the Grail

* * *

Emiya Shirou was having a long day. First he had failed yet again to fix the air conditioning unit at school, in fact he was starting to thing the thing might have to be replaced. Next he had ended up pulling an extra shift at work because the usual guy was taking sick leave. And if that wasn't enough, on the way home from work he had run into a little white haired girl who decided to creep the life out of him with a cryptic warning. Seriously, "You'll die if you don't call him soon Oni-Chan"? What kind of little girl said that?

But despite the long day, he still had to get home and get dinner ready before Fuji-nee turned up. And she would turn up right on time. That woman had near magical timing when it came to meals. Not that he begrudged either her or Sakura joining him at meal times. Shirou was a generous boy by nature and by now he had some how come to think of them freeloading off him as completely natural. After all, he lived by himself in his big old style house, and the company brightened up the otherwise empty home. In fact, if he were honest with himself he couldn't imagine taking a meal without the three of them together. It was as if, by some inexplicable manner, the three of them had formed a family.

When he finally pushed the front door open and stepped in to the house, he found Sakura waiting for him and dinner already halfway prepared. Despite everything Shirou felt his mood improving when he set eyes on Sakura. Her smiling face and cheerful nature always had that effect on him. Ever since they became friends Sakura had become the one of the people he was closest to, even more then Fuji-nee, probably because she was closer to his age. Or maybe because he had started noticing just how cute she had become as they grew older. Fighting down his blush he set out to help her prepare the meal, feeling that the day was bound to improve from this point onward.

But of course fate just had to prove him wrong.

He was putting the finishing touches on the food when he heard Sakura's concerned exclamation.

"Sempai, your hand!"

A startled Shirou looked down to see the back of his hand...bleeding. Strange, had he cut himself without knowing? He never felt any pain. In fact as he wiped the blood away with Sakura's help he couldn't see any wounds on his hand. Instead in their place was something much more worrying. An odd shaped marking, three sword like shapes coming together to form a cross like shape. It was still leaking blood.

This wasn't a wound. This looked suspiciously like magecraft. Shirou would be the first to admit that he wasn't much of a mage. But he at least knew what it looked like. But why? He hadn't done any mage craft that would cause something like this to happen. Was this kind of thing natural for a mage? His adopted father certainly never mentioned it. Before he could speculate more a whimpering sound next to him caused him to turn around to look at Sakura.

She was staring at his bleeding hand, a terrified expression on her face.

Shirou instantly forgot his own worries at the sight.

"Sakura? Sakura? Are you all right?" He gently touched her shoulder, moving his bleeding hand behind his back back and out of sight.

Sakura finally looked up to focus on him and nodded her head trying to she she was ok. She still didn't look well to Shirou though. He guessed that the sight of blood had produced this reaction in her. After all Sakura was a gentle girl. And...he guiltily remembered, she was still recovering from her fainting spell the other day.

"It's ok Sakura, it's just a little cut. I know all the blood looks bad, but it's really noting. Why don't you go and take it easy in the living room while I bandage this?"

Sakura looked back at him with a dazed expression, which Shirou took to mean that she was still shocked from the blood. So he gently maneuvered her into the living room and into a seat and retreated into the bathroom, telling her he'd be back promptly.

Once inside, he proceeded to wash all the blood off the back of his hand. Thankfully it had stopped bleeding by now, but the markings were still raw and had taken an angry red color. If it wasn't for the odd shape they could have been mistaken to be fresh welts. Shirou sat in the bathroom for a solid fifteen minutes trying to think of an explanation for this mark appearing on his hand. But he had to admit that he simply lacked the knowledge. The only option he had was to ask a more experienced mage, and he didn't know any. But he could worry about it later, right now he had to bandage his hand and go see if Sakura had recovered from her nausea. With that thought he went looking for the first aid kit he always kept around the house.

* * *

Sakura sat in the living room, still unable to believe what she had seen with her own two eyes. She could recognize a command seal when she saw one. After all the Matou had _created_ the command seals. She was terrified, not for her self, but for Sempai. He had no idea what he was in for. He was a kindhearted soul, but the other masters in the war, they were anything but. Sempai had no idea how much danger that mark on his hand placed him in!

And Sempai thought she was just nauseous from the sight of blood!

The poor girls mental state plummeted even further as another terrifying thought crept into her mind. What about her own family? What if they found out? What if her Grandfather found out.

Sakura was a strong girl. She had incredible will power. She had to be to have kept her sanity during her tenure among the Matou. Normally she would deal with any tragedy, any calamity, with flawless apathy. But this wasn't just any calamity. The mere thought of Sempai falling under grandfathers gaze terrified her. It was a possibility that she simply could not think about. In fact, the worms...Sakura's heart stopped as she remembered the worms. She wouldn't put it past the old man to use the worms in her body to watch her surroundings. She never deluded herself into thinking even for one moment that he had told her everything that there was to know about the Matou family's brand of magecraft. That old man had a trick or two up his sleeve. The longer she stayed here, the longer she exposed herself to Sempai, the worse danger he was in.

Sakura leaped to her feet, her resolve firm. Her Sempai was the only light in her otherwise hellhole of a life. Abandoned by her parents and sister, abused and violated by her brother and used as the tool of her grandfathers ambitions, this was all she had left. And she would not let her Sempai come to harm! Sakura quickly walked to the front door and slipped out side, careful not to make any noise. And then reinforcing her legs with prana, she ran down the front lawn and into the street. She had only one thought, get as far away from Sempai as possible.

Several minutes later Shirou stepped into the living room, sporting a brand new bandage around his left hand, and stopped in his tracks at the sight of the empty room and wide open front door.

"Sakura?"

* * *

"We have made a lot of progress" C.C said as she drove the car along the streets of Fuyuki. "We know who four of the six enemy masters are, and we have a potential fifth candidate, all that's left is to track down the sixth pair and learn the identities of the other servants"

"Especially since Little Miss Einzbern assures me that the last servant is yet to be summoned" Lelouch agreed with her. "Meaning there is only one pair we have yet to find. Sadly She was unable to tell me anything about the class of the servants that have been summoned, in that regard we are left on our own"

"It might be possible to find out if I introduced myself to the church as a master. They are bound to know. And it would serve another purpose, get us an insight into the priest"

"No" Lelouch interrupted her. "You are not going anywhere near that church. Besides" He rationalized. "It's not as if we are wholly ignorant of the enemy servants. We know who Lancer and Berserker are, along with a fair idea of their abilities. There is no need to expose you to that man"

"You are growing way too protective"

"End of discussion" Lelouch replied with dignity. "Lets talk about something else"

"Oh very well. So any news on your redhead? Is she making progress?"

"Not fast enough" Lelouch sighed. "The doctors said she has a chance to regain consciousness any day now, but they are still uncertain about exactly when. Lets just hope she wakes up sometime before the war ends"

"To be fair she did loose almost all of her blood" C.C turned her head briefly to look at him. "It would be a miracle if she just got up"

"I know" Lelouch admitted. "For the time being we should ignore her and focus on the Einzbern girls...request. After all, her Berserker is too valuable a piece to loose so early in the war"

"Help a boy who knows next to no magecraft and doesn't have a command seal summon a servant" C.C smirked. "That would be a small miracle"

"The real problem is to get him chosen by the grail. I know of no method to force that to happen. At worst we will have to find another master and forcefully give their command seals to him. The summoning itself would be childsplay compared to that"

"Oh?"

"Yes" Now it was Lelouch's turn to smirk. "I forgot to mention, I made a very interesting discovery when I was at his house. It seems magi are vulnerable to my mystic eyes after all"

"You were worried they might not work?"

"Think about it C.C" Lelouch gestured at his beautiful driver. "You yourself are immune to geass. I know my power would work on any normal human, but I'm not so sure how it would work on others. A heroic spirit is an existence on an entirely different level, and lets not forget, the Lancer and Saber classes have 'magic resistance' as a skill. I don't dare try my power on them until I'm absolutely sure that it would work"

"I see" C.C nodded.

"But thanks to Shirou, I now know that magi have no such immunity. They are as vulnerable as the next man to my eyes"

"So you win the war by forcing the masters to order their servants suicide? How anticlimactic"

"Well that is certainly one possibility" Lelouch chuckled. "And speaking of Emiya Shirou" He pointed.

The redheaded boy was hurrying down the street coming towards their car, the expression on his face very very worried and his movements slightly panicky.

"Wonder whats up with him?"

"Lets find out, pull up next to him" Lelouch said even as he rolled down the car window and leaned out.

"Hey Shirou! What are you doing? Is everything all right?" He called out to the boy as they came up alongside him.

Even as Shirou turned to look at him and recognition appeared in his face, Lelouch frowned, something was different about Shirou today. His servants senses had gone in to full alert mode as soon as the boy got close. Even as he was considering the possibilities, C.C leaned close to his ear and whispered three words.

"Lelouch, command seal"

Lelouch's gaze snapped to the boys left hand, his bandaged left hand, and his eyes widened. How did that happen? But he had no furthur time to think on that because Shirou, who was plainly oblivious to the startled gaze the emperor turned servant was directing at him, had already started speaking.

"Lelouch-san, it's Sakura. Shes gone!"

Lelouch blinked. "What?"

"She was in the living room when I went to bandage my hand and when I came back she was gone!"

Lelouch and C.C looked at each other, and then Lelouch opend the passenger side door and got out of the car and put a hand on Shirou's shoulder.

"All right, tell me what happened from the beginning and we will help you"

When Shirou had finally managed to tell what had happened in an understandable manner, Lelouch exchanged another glance with C.C before turning to the panicking boy.

"So what are you doing now out here?"

"Well I called her house and no one answered, so I called Fuji-nee to come and look after my house and left to check if she went home. Then I'll check all the other places she might go to"

"Have you called the police?" That was C.C.

"Umm"

"I see" Lelouch said. "So assuming the sight of blood caused some kind of hysteria in her, where else might she go? Other than home?"

"Well...there is the school?" Shirou stammered out. "And there is this park nearby that she loves. She said it was very peaceful, so she might be there too"

"Ok, the closest place of the three is the school" Lelouch said, his tone decisive. "It can be easily reached on foot. Shirou go and check the school. We will take the car and check the park and then the house. If we find her we'll take her to your place"

"Thank you Lelouch-san. I'm really greatfull" Shirou smiled with relief. It was always good to know that you are not alone in a tight spot after all.

"Don't mention it. If neither of us find her then we will call the police" Lelouch said as he got back in the car. "Give me directions to the park"

As the car carrying the couple sped away, Shirou turned and hurried in the direction of the school. His face set with determination. He had to find Sakura before anything happened to her in her. Fuyuki was full of the kind of people who wouldn't hesitate to take advantage of a young girl in her moment of weakness. That she was sick wouldn't make any difference to them. As he walked he absently rubbed the mark on his hand through the bandage. It had suddenly started hurting a moment ago as he was talking to Lelouch-san, but now the pain was fading. He hoped it wasn't going to start bleeding again. He really didn't need that right now on top of this situation.

* * *

As the car pulled away and sped up, both Lelouch and C.C was silent for a while. C.C was focused on driving, and Lelouch was watching the dissapearing figure of Shirou in the rear view mirror.

It was C.C that broke the silence first.

"That was unexpected"

"Yes" Lelouch nodded slowly. "Completely unexpected"

A moment later he had pulled out his mobile phone. "But very convenient"

With that he speed dialed a number and waited impatiently till it was picked up on the other end.

"Good Evening Miss Einzbern, I have very good news for you. The first part of the job is complete, we are now a that much closer to giving our friend a servant"

He listened to the voice on the speaker with a slight smile. "It's good to know you are a woman of your word Miss Einzbern, I will look forward to seeing you fulfill your end of the bargain"

"You lied" C.C commented casually after he had hung up.

"Did I? I never said I actually gave him the seals. I simply implied it"

"And took the credit"

"Yes"

"You were also lying to a little girl"

"A little girl with a big servant"

"Good point"

A moment later C.C had another question.

"So what do you think happened with the girl?"

"Shirou thinks the girl was frightened away by the sight of blood. Which is extremely naive of him. But what if she really was frightened away, not by the sight of blood, but by the sight of the seal? After all, a member of a founding family would recognize it, for what it is. What would be her most likely cause of action?"

"She would run to warn her families master" C.C finished the sentence.

"Exactly" Lelouch smiled. "So step on it. We can't let her rat out Shirou. He must be alive and healthy for our plan"

* * *

Homurahara High was deserted. It was way too late for even after school club activities, but just to make sure, Rin Tohsaka had cast a barrier around the school that would compel people to stay away from the grounds, making sure that not even the janitor would be out wandering the halls tonight.

She had stayed behind after school ended and all others left before laying her barrier and working a little discreet magecraft. The results of the magecraft confirmed beyond doubt what she had feared when she had first felt it. There was a bounded field around the school, but not one any conventional magus would cast. Because this bounded field was vampiric, draining vital prana from the people caught in its boundary and doing god knows what with it. Rin hadn't the slightest idea about what kind of magecraft could accomplish something like this, but it didn't take a genius to guess what kind of person would need to resort to such drastic means of getting prana. It was obviously someone who couldn't get prana naturally, like someone who wasn't properly alive, as in heroic spirit.

So now here she was, needlessly exposing herself to potential danger in the middle of the city, looking for a way to take the accursed thing down.

"This wasn't here when I left yesterday. But it was here when I came to school today. So if it was put up sometime last night, it means it has had less than a day to do it's work. So I still have a chance of taking this down before it does too much damage" She spoke out loud, seemingly to herself.

"You really are concerned about this" A disembodied voice spoke from next to her as she stalked through the school grounds, indicating that she did in fact have a listener.

Rin stopped, looking back over her shoulder at a patch of seemingly empty air and frowning. "Fuyuki is my responsibility remember? The Tohsaka have stood guard here for centuries, protecting people from just this kind of thing. And besides" She said as she started walking again. "Whoever cast this thing is using it to drain prana. If we take it down, we cut of a prana supply they might use in battle against us later"

"And you are not motivated by concern for you schoolmates of course" The disembodied voice was easily keeping pace with her.

"I'm not" Rin said firmly. "I'm just doing my duty as a magus and a Tohsaka. While I wont go out of my way to hurt people, I wont try and pretend a war is without its casualties. I'll just try to minimize them"

The mildly amused chuckle behind her indicated that her incorporeal listener was not quite convinced of her coldblooded reasoning. Rin did her best to ignore it and kept on walking.

"Now shut up and help me with this. If we can just find what keeps the field anchored then it'll be simple to bring it down"

"Bring it down? Now what a waste that would be" That voice definitely didn't belong to anyone Rin knew.

She spun in the direction the voice had come from, her servant assuming corporal form next to her and already in a fighting stance.

Upon the steel frame tower that held the school water tank, outlined against the starlit sky, stood a figure of a tall lean man, one hand grasped a spear longer than he was tall, a hint of a blue bodysuit was visible in a silver of light cast from a nearby lamppost. Rin, by virtue of her status as a master, instantly knew who this was, and turned to shout the order to engage at her servant. But that proved unnecessary. Her servant, who had only been and endless supply of snark till now, was already running at the enemy servant, who leaped down from the tower to meet him, not even pausing to recover from the nearly three story drop.

Her own servant, still running, held out his hands, and a pair of swords, identical except for the difference in colour, materialized in his hands.

The two heroes met in the center of the courtyard, swordsman against spearman, crashing together like a pair of comets. Their clash sent a wave of sound and prana that nearly deafened the watching Rin. And suddenly she was very glad of the barrier she had put up earlier.

* * *

Meanwhile, a pair of plain black vans pulled up into the street that ran in front of the Matou house. As they came level with the house their side doors opened, and a group of men, dressed in combat gear and masks obscuring their faces jumped out even before the vans came to a stop. The next instant they had levelled their assault rifles at the house and opened fire, their weapons of full auto, dozens of rounds of ammunition pouring into the house, blowing in the windows and pockmarking the walls with hundreds of little holes.

These men were all ex military, all of them veterans, and none of them stopped shooting until they had cooked their magazines dry.

As they reloaded and prepared for a second assault however, things took a different turn.

Something came flying through the air and impaled one of the shooters. The rest of the attackers looking around in shock as the man collapsed, the _something_ withdrawing and flying back through the air to land in the hand of a...woman. There was a woman on the roof of the shot up house. She was dressed in a thigh length black tube dress with long black sleeves that left her shoulders bare. Her hip length purple hair was flowing behind her in the breeze. Her eyes covered with a band of purple cloth. And the dagger in her hand was still dripping blood.

Even as they watched, the woman flung her dagger with lighting speed, the flying weapon impaling another attacker before anyone could so much as blink. Then using a long metal chain attached to the daggers hilt, the woman mercilessly yanked the weapon back into her hand and prepared to attack once more even as the panicked gunmen in the street below aimed their weapons at her...Only to leap away as several black daggers buried themselves on the roof in the same spot she had been standing an eye blink ago.

She landed with impossible grace on the lawn in front of the house even as another figure appeared on the roof she had just vacated.

This newcomer was very different from the woman. It, for it was impossible to tell if it was male or female, was a hunchbacked frame covered in ragged black robes, a grinning white skull mask hiding its face and its left arm, which was horribly deformed, ending at the elbow and swathed in black bandages.

Anyone who knew anything about the grail war could tell who the newcomer was.

The purple haired woman instantly turned around and flew back on to the roof, her dagger out and ready to strike. But instead of meeting her attack, the skull masked figure leaped aside and kept running, leaping from the roof of the house and running into the street, the woman hot on his heels.

"All right, load the special amo and back him up" The commander of the gunmen barked.

At that the remaining men, who numbered only five now, ejected the clips on their weapons and reached into their suits for fresh magazines.

These new magazines were, as the leader had said, special. The bullets they held were conceptual weapons, enormously difficult and expensive to make, but necessary. Because they were one of the few weapons available to even the mundane humans that could bleed a supernatural body.

Indeed the first round of shots actually drew blood. As they slammed into the purple haired woman who clearly wasn't expecting them to have a weapon that could harm her.

She had been trying to close the distance between her and the skull masked warrior, who was flinging more of his black daggers to keep her at bay when the bullets slammed into her from behind. The woman staggered, bleeding from the bullet wounds and looking quite shocked. She barely managed to leap aside to avoid the next salvo of daggers and then immediately had to dodge leap as the gunmen opened fire once more.

Thus began a deadly game. The Attackers, the skull masked figure with his daggers and the gunmen with their special bullets, attempted again and again to catch the woman in the crossfire of their projectiles. But even bleeding from half a dozen wounds they were no match for the inhuman speed and grace of their enemy and after the first surprise attack neither bullet nor dagger managed to reach her again. It was only a matter of time before the bullets ran dry and the fight will shift again in favor of the female defender. Unless they managed to get lucky in the meantime.

However a short way into the fight the squad leader called into the built in earpiece in his helmet.

"The Matou servant has engaged Assassin, you may proceed on your end"

* * *

Sakura had been wandering aimlessly ever since she had run away. She honestly had no idea what she should do next. She couldn't go home, she couldn't go back to Sempai, and she had nowhere else to go. When she raised her head and looked around she found that she had wandered near the park she used to come to when she was still family with Rin and Aoi. Maybe she subconsciously navigated here because this was one of the few places she held dear in her heart.

She walked listlessly up to one of the empty benches that sat near the now empty swings and fell into it, putting her head in her hands. She felt helpless, helpless and useless. She wanted to protect Sempai but what could she do? No matter how hard she tried, Grandfather would find out about him. There was no way she could keep a secret from him. Short of actually killing herself, Sakura could think of no other way to keep herself from being the source that betrayed Sempai.

And yet she couldn't quite do that. Something inside her, maybe cowardice, maybe pride, stopped her from self destruction. But what other options does that leave her. Maybe if she ran away? Leave Fuyuki and go to New Tokyo, or maybe find a way to leave the country altogether? Could she run far enough to escape grandfathers gaze? But she couldn't just leave Sempai in the middle of the war either. She didn't even want to imagine what would happen if he had to fight another master servant pair.

Sakura was so engrossed in thought she never heard the footsteps approaching her from behind.

The first indication she had that something was wrong was whens something touched the back of her head and an incredibly painful and equally powerful bolt of electricity discharged into her body.

As Sakura fell senseless to the ground, one of the two masked men pocketed the stun gun and bent down to throw the unconscious girl over his shoulder as the other man spoke into a hand held comm unit.

"We got the package secured, taking it to the commander now"

* * *

_And thats it for chapter 7. Do tell me what you think of it._

_Also some of you have requested longer chapters, I'll do my best to oblige. Plus I hope the interview at the end clears up any questions from the last chapter._

_In the next chapter we should see dear Shirou step up to take a more active role in things. And also Lelouch may actually have to get off his ass and do some fighting for a change._

_Note:_

_It has been pointed out to me that there are numerous spelling, grammer and punctuation errors in the chapters I have published so far. So I decided to go back, reread everything and do some editing. The first four chapters have already been edited. I'll be posting the edited versions of the others soon._

* * *

Fuji-TV: The Holy Grail Show!

"Hello everyone! Welcome once more to the Holy Grail Show! Where _you_ get to meet the masters and servants taking part in the grail war now sweeping Fuyuki! We will also be discussing their Noble Phantasms and identities and even their secret histories. As always I'm your host, Illyasviel von Einzbern!"

Spotlights flicked on and focused on Illya, who was once again dressed in her business suit

"This time we have a very special guest. He was the servant summoned by us... I mean the Einzbern family during the 3rd war, and he was the hidden presence behind the 4th war that ended in tragedy. Yes ladies and gentlemen! I give you Angra Manyu! The bearer of all the worlds evil!

Lights flicked on the rest of the stage revealing Avenger himself seated next to Illya. He was still wearing the red headband that bound his unruly black hair, and the tattoos on his brown skin, all the curses humanity had ever spoken, still seemed to wriggle with a life of their own.

But nothing else was familiar about this Avenger.

For one he was dressed in civilian cloths, and he was holding of all things, a Zero plushy. He waved at the camera, oblivious to Illya gaping drop jawed at his appearance. Clearly she hadn't seen this coming. But the little homonuclus recovered magnificently and cleared her throat.

"Ahem, so lets get to it Avenger-sama" Illya smiled, though it looked a bit strained. "So the first question today is...well lets just get this out of the way. _Why_ are you dressed like that?"

"What? This?" Avenger for his part looked honesty surprised as he gestured at himself. "Don't tell me you can't recognize this? Didn't you have Lelouch himself in here last episode?"

Illya blinked and took another, careful look at his outfit. Brown leather jacket, black pants and black tee-shirt and the...plushy. Suspicion dawned.

"Don't tell me"

"Yes!" Avenger pumped his fist. "This is the outfit Lelouch used to wear during his civilian life. Every single item is an exact match. I was very meticulous about getting the details correct."

"I see" Illya said, drawing the syllables out slowly. "So, lets change the subject into something less...well something else" She was clearly was trying to get things onto saner ground. "This next question is one that has been asked a lot. A lot of people have mistaken your voice for Zouken Matou's and several other more prominent Nasuverse characters. What are your thoughts on this?"

"Ah it's tragic" The dark servant shook his head. And hugged his plushy. "This is what happens to us villains who are doomed to be distant threats on the horizon, like Sauron in his bloody tower. We are the true threat that the hero must face, but its the heroes battles with the mooks and the dragon that capture the minds of the masses" Avenger was looking like he might cry. This was clearly a sensitive topic for him. "In every grail war, in every route I was the true threat. The festering rot in the grail. The demon in the womb. The calamity that was about to befall the entire world. But was I given the recognition I deserve? Was I? No, always some little girl in an armor skirt steals the spotlight from me. It's all because I was the invisible threat, and no one ever cares about the invisible threat. No, of course they don't. That Illya-kun, is the tragedy I face"

Illya, who had once more been reduced to staring, shook her head and recovered herself at the end of Avengers monologue.

"Right well, lets just ask you the last question" She sighed. "You clearly see a kindred spirit in Lelouch-sama. Would you like to comment on that?"

"Ah Lelouch-kun, he is the only person who would understand. We are the same he and I. We were both forced to become demons for the shake of the world around us. We took their sin onto our shoulders and watched from a distance as they went about their lives in joy and peace"

Illya knew instantly that she had once more asked the wrong question. But it was too late to stop Avenger now. He was in full swing.

"...But for him it was worse, because he choose to become the demon of his own free will. But he didn't waver once, he never hesitated, no matter how terrible the sacrifice he made it. Oh, Lelouch-kun. Has there ever been another demon in human form that was so cold? So cruel? So calculating? So magnificent? So handsome? So..."

"That's really very interesting Avenger. But I'm afraid we are out of time" Illya finally managed to interrupt him. "So, thanks for tuning in for this episode of the Holy Grail Show! Do join us next time for another exiting episode where we will meet another mighty hero. And, if you have any suggestions as to who we should interview next, do let us know!"

The little homonuclus waved at the camera. At her side Avenger did the same.

"See you next time!"

The lights went out.

* * *

_end HGS._


	8. Chapter 8: Darkness Unsealed

_I'm back! Sorry once again for the late chapter, hope you enjoy._

* * *

Chapter 8: Darkness Unsealed

* * *

If Shirou had entertained any doubts about this being the worst day of his life, they were long gone by now. All the stuff at school, the extra shift at work, the creepy little girl and her warning, the strange markings turning up in his hand and finally Sakura disappearing, no, any doubts he had harboured were long since dispelled.

But he _had_ held on to the hope that things couldn't possibly get worse.

Oh how very wrong he had been.

Right now, as he was being chased through the school by a man clad in a blue body suit and wielding a crimson spear, Shirou couldn't help but marvel at just how stupid he had been. Of course it wasn't over yet. Kami-sama probably won't stop this until he was well and truly dead.

Fortunately however, he had been able to avoid death so far. Not because of any superiority in skill he held over the blue clad madman, but because he knew the school a lot better than his pursuer did.

But by the sound of running footsteps behind him, it wasn't going to keep him alive for long unless he found some way to throw the pursuer off him.

He had come to the school to check if Sakura had come here, only to find the place deserted with not even the usual nightwatchman at the gate. Undaunted, he had scaled the gate and had effectively broken into his own school, and had immediately been assaulted by a wave of nausea that almost made him throw up. And when he had finally pulled himself to his feet and started searching the school grounds for Sakura, he had heard odd noises coming from the school yard, the distinctive sound of metal striking metal.

He had gone to investigate.

Despite being a magus, despite knowing that things existed that mundane people scoff at, he was in no way prepared for the sight that greeted him at the school yard.

Two warriors, that was the only word he could think of to describe them, _Warriors_, one clad in a blue body suit and another dressed in figure hugging black armor and bright red trenchcoat, were fighting in the school yard, dual swords against red spear. Their movements were blindingly fast, their strikes were impossibly strong, their murderous intent palpable, and the moment Shirou took a single hesitant step into the schoolyard, both had ceased their battle and turned to glare at him.

Shirou had done the only thing an aspiring hero of justice could do when confronted by two otherworldly men carrying archaic weapons. He had turned and run.

Now though it looked like it wasn't enough to save him, because at least one of them had given chase, and they were gaining on him. Shirou used a reinforced leg to kick in one of the doors to a school building and ran inside, hoping to loose the spearman in the corridors.

As he was running up the stairs and ducking around corridors however, a panicked Shirou inevitably made a mistake. A combination of bad light and panic at the imminent threat of death resulted in him taking a wrong turning and ending up in a dead end corridor.

Shirou pulled himself up short and cast about desperately for another exit.

But that meant he had to stop running for a second, and that second was all the spearman needed.

Unbearable, mind numbing pain exploded in his body, and the terrified Shirou looked down at himself to see the barbed blade of the crimson spear protruding out of his chest.

He blinked, unable to comprehend what had happened, even as the spear was brutally withdrawn, blood spurting from the gaping wound as Shirou collapsed bonelessly at his murderers feet. He was unable to to more then watch through rapidly clouding eyes at the man walked away, the parting words spoken by the spearman only a dull buzz in his ears, a pool of crimson blood spreading rapidly around his prone body.

The last coherent thought Shirou had was of his adoptive father, as he silently apologized to the man for being unable to fulfill his long ago promise to the man that he would become a 'Hero of Justice'.

* * *

Rin Tohsaka was panting and out of breath when she finally arrived at the scene, her servant right behind her. But by then the enemy servant was long gone and the boy was laying in a pool of his own blood. She recognized the boy, even though she had never actually spoken to him. Emiya Shirou, One of her classmates, a boy who was generally known to be very helpful and good at tinkering with household appliances.

Rin muttered a curse as she knelt down next to his prone form, eyes widening when she reached out to feel his pulse.

"He's still alive" She muttered, reaching into the pockets of her blouse. "But only just" She turned her head briefly to look up at her servant who was sanding next to her, watching the scene unfold with a neutral face. "Archer, go and try to track down that other servant, don't let him get away from us" She noticed the look the servant was giving her, and frowned. "Don't even suggest it, we are not leaving him like this"

"The rules of the war clearly state that all witnesses have to be silenced" Archer held her eyes. "It's your duty to uphold that law, both as a master, and a Tohsaka"

"Enough" Rin snapped, even as she placed her hand above the gaping wound on the boys chest and concentrated, her free hand clutched a jewel she had pulled from her pocket. "We are _not_ leaving him here to die, now go and do as you were told"

Archer glanced between her and the unconscious boy, and hesitated for just a second before inclining his head in acknowledgement. "As you wish master"

As Archer went into spectral form and sped away, the jewel in Rin's hand began to glow with prana as the young magus worked desperately to repair the boys damaged lungs before it was too late.

* * *

When he saw what was happening on the street that held the Matou house, Lelouch gave himself a pat on the back for being considerate enough to volunteer to go and check the Matou house.

As they had approached the house however, he had felt the powerful prana signatures of multiple Heroic Spirits and even worse, heard the sounds of gunfire, Lelouch had pulled out his laptop and tried to use his surveillance cameras to see just what was happening.

The images on the screen had taken him completely by surprise.

The entire street was a battleground, filled with Heroic Spirits and masked gunmen all seeming hellbent on killing each other as bullets and daggers flew back and fourth.

With an eye that had assessed countless battlefields it didn't take more than a second for Lelouch to begin to make sense out of the chaos. There were two Heroic Spirits and at least half a dozen gunmen, with the gunmen seemingly supporting one of the pair, a figure in a grinning skull mask and dressed in ragged black robes. Guessing the identity of this servant was a no brainer. Servant Assassin, one of the incarnations of the Old Man of the Mountain, Hassan il Sabbah, the man who gave birth to the very name 'Assassin', and who held the distinction of being the only spirit that could be summoned into the Assassin class, no matter what kind of catalyst you used, no matter how you changed the summoning.

The other Heroic Spirit, who seemed to be badly outnumbered and fighting on the defensive, was a woman with long purple hair dressed in a black tube dress, with a cloth band covering her eyes. She wielded a dagger with a chain attached to the end, and she was hurling the dagger like a projectile at her enemies while using the chain to pull it back for another cast. Lelouch had never seen it's like before, but he couldn't deny it's usefulness. And judging by the way the woman was twisting and turning and dodging both thrown daggers and bullets, her agility had to be exceptional, at least B ranked. As for her identity, he already knew who Berserker and Lancer were, and he had just found Assassin, so excluding himself, that leaves the Saber, Archer, and Rider classes. And Saber could be ruled out immediately, this woman simply didn't have the power of a Saber. The process of elimination left him with Archer and Rider, and the lack of a mount seemed to point at Archer, but her fighting style wasn't what he would have expected an Archer to have.

"This is a bold move" C.C said from her seat next to him. "Attacking one of the founding families at their own home? And They must know that the other masters would be watching the founders like hawks. This will only end up drawing attention to themselves"

"It's a huge gamble on their part" Leouch agreeded. "They must have a damn good reason to run such a risk"

"Such as?"

"I can think of several possibilities, with the most likely one being an attempt to get at the Matou master" He smiled at the questioning look C.C shot him. "Think about it. The best way to win the grail war is to kill the enemy masters, because present company excluded, it's a lot easier to kill a master than a servant" Lelouch looked thoughtful. "In fact, this might even have something to do with Sakura and her vanishing act. We assumed that she ran away, but she may have been taken against her will"

"That makes sense" C.C agreed. "Wait, what are you doing?"

This last was spoken as Lelouch opened the car door and stepped outside.

Her accomplice turned servant chuckled as his cloths vanished in a burst of prana, leaving him in his white robed and mirror masked Heroic Spirit form.

"We seem to be having a lucky streak my dear witch" He said as the his mask turned to face her. "And it would be a shame to squander a golden opportunity like this. Just wait here for me, this won't take long"

With that he went into spectral form and sped away, making a bee line for the battlefield, leaving a still shocked C.C behind.

"That man, he is impossible" The green haired witch muttered as she put the car into gear. "If he ends up getting beaten to a pulp, _I'm_ not patching him up"

* * *

To his credit, Lelouch made a superb entry, materializing in the middle of the street and shocking the combatants into silence and inaction. Partly because he cut an impressive figure standing there, with not a single hint of fear or nervousness, back straight and head held high, looking for all the world like a king surveying his domains, and partly because they were just pain surprised at the audacity of the madman who would just walk into a battlefield like this.

Whatever the reason, the suburban street that had been filled with the sound of battle a moment ago, was now dead silent, as everyone, both servants and humans, stared at the white robed figure that had suddenly appeared in their midst.

Lelouch grinned under his mask, his heart was thumping in his chest, and his mind was working a mile a minute as he worked out every single possibility and reaction. He hadn't felt this way since the days when he was Zero and when he had made one of his dramatic speeches with squads of Britannian Knightmareframes aiming their weapons at him for an audience. In short, he was enjoying himself.

"You caused quite a ruckus with your little fight, I could hear you halfway across the city" His voice was laced with amusement and contempt. "I couldn't help but come and see what all the fuss was about"

* * *

Sakura woke up abruptly, surrounded by darkness. She knew that her eyes were wide open, but she could see nothing but darkness around her, the only sound was the rasp of her own panicked breathing, and, as she found out after trying to reach for her eyes, both her hands and legs refused to move at her command. She panicked for a moment before realizing that there was something over her eyes that blocked her sight and that her hands and feet were both tied down to something.

What was happening to her? How did she get here? Was this some sick game of her brothers? Or some plan by grandfather to punish her? Perhaps he had brought her to the worm room as she slept and left her here? Maybe this was another part of her training?

Wait? She remembered! She hadn't been at home, she had gone to help Sempai with his cooking, that was when a command seal had manifested in his hand.

And she had become frightened and run away from his house.

That was the last thing she remembered. So how had she ended up like this? Did someone kidnap her off the street? But why? Why would anyone want to hurt her?

Her thoughts were interrupted rather abruptly when something hard and metallic poked the back of her head, painfully bringing her attention back to the present.

"If you try any magecraft girl, we will blow your head off, do you understand?" The question was emphasized by another poke in the head.

Sakura manged to nod her head even as she winced in pain. Magecraft, that made things so much worse. This was no ordinary kidnapping if they knew about her being a magus. Sakura felt herself shivering, the things magi could do to each other were a lot worse than what a simple rapist or murderer could do.

Then the covering over her eyes was removed, and Sakura found herself having to close her eyes against the sudden brightness of the lights.

When her eyes had adjusted to the lights Sakura could finally see where she was. It was a large room, paint peeling off the walls, windows boarded up and floor covered with what looked like years worth of detritus. The only illumination in the room came from a single light bulb overhead, and the only furniture in the room was the chair she was currently tied to. More importantly, two people she had never seen before stood in front of her, a man and a woman, while a third man stood next to her holding a gun to her head.

All three of them looked like Britannians, and the man and woman in front of her were very well dressed and looked like they were important people, especially the woman, she looked very much like someone you didn't want to cross.

"Let me make things clear to you girl" The woman spoke up, her voice was clear, precise, and commanding. "We are going to ask you some questions, you will answer them truthfully, and you are free to go, do you understand?"

Sakura could only nod mutely in response.

"Good" The woman fixed Sakura with her piercing gaze. "Who is the Matou master?"

The implications froze Sakura. This was about the Grail War, things kept getting worse and worse. She tried desperately to think of something to say that would both satisfy her interrogators and keep everyone safe. She knew that if she gave them the name of the Matou clan's chosen master then they would be in danger. And she couldn't do that, despite everything she couldn't. But her panicking mind couldn't come up with any other solution either. So she was left sitting mutely while the woman grew impatient.

"Well?" The woman snapped. "Answer the question!"

A terrified Sakura could only shake her head in response.

Slap! The the woman hit the poor girl across the cheek with enough force to snap her head to make her head spin.

"Do you understand what will happen to you if you don't cooperate girl?" She nodded meaningfully at the gun still pointed at her head. "Do you have a death wish?"

But no matter how much the woman threatened, slapped or verbally abused her, Sakura kept silent. Her face was bruised and she was crying silent tears, but she didn't speak a word. Finally, after what felt like forever, the woman gave up and stepped out of the room with the well dressed man, leaving the gunman behind to guard her.

As the door closed behind them, Sakura hung her head and started to sob, the first sounds she had made since being kidnapped.

* * *

Nonette Enneagram, the former Knight of Nine of the Emperors Knights of the Round, closed her eyes and let out a silent string of curses. She really didn't enjoy interrogating a little girl who was clearly terrified of her. Even though she had been a solider in the emperors conquering armies, she had always tried to treat her prisoners with clemency. She knew that this was a necessary part of war, but that didn't mean that she had to like it.

"What is with that girl?" Eduard's voice snapped her back to the present. "She didn't speak a word during the entire thing, that was creepy"

"Yes" Nonette muttered in agreement. Most people either shouted abuse, gritted their teeth or begged during these things. This girl simply sat there and let them abuse her. She didn't know about creepy, but it was definitely not normal. "Regardless I don't think we are going to get anything out of her like this, even if we take more...extreme measures. Can't you use magecraft to make her talk?"

"I don't think so" The former Earl sighed. "Most of the hypnosis spells I know are for the mundanes, non-magi" He corrected himself after remembering that his companion also fell into that category. "Magi can resist such spells rather easily, at least if they have had training"

"Blast it! Then what can we do? We risked a lot on this move to give up without something to show for it"

"We can try to wear her down, now that we know for sure that she isn't the Matou master, there is no danger of her using her command seals to call for help"

"Stop talking nonsense!" Nonette snapped at him. "We don't have the time or a place to keep her long term, even if she isn't a master her family is sure to search for her, and I'm willing to bet that they have ways of finding a family member wherever she is, some kind of magical transmitter or some such"

"It's actually possible to do that" Eduard admitted. "Then it seems we are out of options, unless" Here he reached into his pocket and pulled something out. "We use this"

Nonette raised an eyebrow at what the man was holding up. A Syringe, filled with clear colourless liquid.

"Refrain" She wrinkled her nose.

"Refrain" Eduard agreed. "It's our best bet to make her talk, better than hypnosis in fact"

"Are you sure it won't produce any magical side effects in her?"

"It has been used by magi before, and no side effects were documented" Eduard assured her. "It's better then just giving up" He insisted.

"Oh, very well" Nonette gave in. "Get it over with quickly"

As Eduard marched back into the girls room however, Nonette didn't like herself very much. It was the demon emperor who twisted peoples minds, not them. Now here she was, taking a leaf out of his book, all to undo the damage he had caused.

She cursed once more and followed Eduard back into the room.

* * *

When she stepped inside Nonette found the girl sobbing. That sight would have inspired pity in most people, but Eduard simply walked up to her and, grabbing one of her bound arms plunged the needle inside, pressing the plunger to inject the drug into her blood stream.

They both watched as the girl first winced at the pain, then looked at them in a confused manner, trying to figure out what they have done. However, her eyes soon started to glaze over as the Refrain began to work on her system, and her eyes half closed and her head hung limply as she seemed to loose consciousness. Nonette and Eduard exchanged a glance before Eduard stepped up to the girl and gently slapped her cheek.

"Sakura? Sakura? Can you hear me?"

"Please tell me you didn't overdose her" Nonette sighed.

"I didn't" Eduard continued trying to rouse the girl. "She should be fine"

Just then the girl started to stir once more, and Eduard smiled with satisfaction.

"You see"

"Mother? Rin? Are you there? Where am I?" Those were the first words the girl had spoken since she had been bought here. It seemed that the drug had done its work.

"Sakura, your mother isn't with us I'm afraid, but I am a friend of hers. My name is Eduard, shall we be friends?" Eduard smiled at the girl as he spoke in a gentle voice. "I'll be glad to help you, we can go and find your mother together"

"And Rin?"

"And her" Eduard nodded.

The girl giggled.

Nonette frowned, there was something off about that, it wasn't the giggle of a little girl, there was something else there, something she couldn't quite put her finger on.

Then the girl raised her head to look at them, and Nonette took an involuntary step back. The last time she saw eyes like that, they belonged to the Vampire of Britannia. She opened her mouth to speak, but never got the chance. Her world exploded in a storm of noise and darkness.

* * *

When Nonette came to her senses, she found that she was laying on her back on the dirt caked floor of the building, a moaning sound from next to her told her where Eduard was. Painfully she pulled herself into a sitting position, then gaped drop jawed at what she saw.

The girl was on her feet. The bindings that kept her restrained had been blown away, along with the chair she had been sitting on and the cloths she had been wearing. In their place, what appeared to be a pool of black shadows writhed at the girls feet and reached out tendrils that looked almost like tentacles to caress her body. Only glimpses of her pale skin could be seen through the moving shadows that surrounded her, with only her head being above their reach. And even on her head, the hair that had once been a rich purple was now pure white, standing out sharply against the dark shadows.

Nonette absently noted that the man that had been holding a gun to her head was laying crumpled against one wall of the room, his head bent at an impossible angle. And, her eyes widened, she was no longer in the same room the girl was in, she had been thrown all the way into the other room, the door that had separated the two rooms was gone, along with a good portion of the connecting wall.

The girl started speaking, and her voice was now downright inhuman.

"I'm so happy to meet you Eduard-san" She giggled. "I'm sure we will be great friends"

* * *

_end of chapter 8._

_Shirou is fast approaching the time when he will begin to take a more active role in things. We have also seen all six of the summoned servants by now. All thats left is for the seventh and final servant to make an appearance._

_While our protagonist only made a cameo appearance in this one, but he will be making up for it next time. I was planning to write more Lelouch scenes this chapter, but had to remove them and move them to the next one. Also by now it should be easy to guess his class. There has been more then enough clues for it. :) _

_As for the interrogation scene. I'm willing to bet that Sakura would be resistant to just about any kind of torture. After all she had gone through a lot worse. The only exploitable weak point in her would be her feelings for Shirou, and they didn't know that._

_And I know that the Nonette in this fic is being rather out of character. From what I gather, her personality is a cross between Cornelia and Milly, cheerful yet dutiful, stern yet fun. But I figured that this Nonette had survived the war, seen her fellow rounds killed and her empire dismantled. Basically she had had her world turned upside down. It was sure to have taken a toll on her and made her personality change._

_As always, thank you for reading, and see you next chapter. :)_

* * *

Fuji-TV: The Holy Grail Show!

"Hello everyone! Welcome! Welcome once more to the Holy Grail Show! This is the show where _you_ get to meet the masters and servants taking part in the Grail War now sweeping Fuyuki! As usual, I'm your host, Illyasviel von Einzbern!"

The spotlights flicked on, illuminating the little homonuclus, who was dressed in her business suit once more and holding a mike in one hand.

"This time we have a very special guest for you. He is a man of many titles and just as many achievements. He has defied gods, wrestled bulls, built walls, cut down ceder trees, bedded innumerable women on their wedding night (to other men), and ruled over the most glorious kingdom of ancient times"

Illya gestured grandly with her free hand.

"Behold The Golden King, The Original Hero, The Fifth King of Uruk etc etc. Yes Ladies and gentlemen! I give you Gilgamesh of Uruk, The King of Heroes!"

Lights flashed on, illuminating the rest of the studio, while the Eiyuu Ou theme played in the background.

The studio is very different today. Golden pillars are holding up the ceiling, cloth of gold curtains cover the walls, and even the couches that seat Illya and her guest have gold inlay complementing their crimson cushions.

The King of Heroes was lounging on the couch directly opposite Illya, dressed in his casual ensemble of black jacket and pants, with his white shirt half open to show a hint of golden chain. He turned his head in the direction of the cameras and inclined his head ever so slightly, a slight smirk forming on his face.

"So, Gilgamesh-sama. Thank you for joining us today" Illya begins the interview. "And thank you for helping us decorate the studio, I hope you like the new look"

"It's unspeakably ugly" Said king responded in a voice oozing contempt. "But it is certainly an improvement over what it used to be"

"Right well, lets just get to the first question we have for you" Illya consulted a clipboard. She was already beginning to understand that being a Heroic Spirit exempted you from those little things like common politeness and acting like a normal person. "This one is the most obvious question. What are your plans for this war?"

"My plans are quite simple. I will continue to entertain myself at the expense of these so called heroes until my wife returns to me once more"

"Your wife? Oh you mean Saber! So you are hoping she will come back are you?"

"Of course she will be back. She steadfastly believes that the grail can save her doomed nation. She will be back, and once more she will give her all to reach her dream" The golden king chuckled. It was not a nice chuckle. "I'm looking forward to the moment when she sees what lies at the heart of the grail she covets so much, when she learns that despite all her hard work and all her sacrifices, she was doomed to fail form the very beginning. The tears she sheds then will be, _delicious_"

"I see. Not something you'd expect a hero to say, but whatever. Lets move on to the next question" Illya consulted her clipboard once more.

"This next one is from a reviewer. They ask you, just what was your reaction when Lelouch-sama conquered the world? As I understand, _you_ ruled the most glorious kingdom that there ever was ,until he came along"

The King of Heroes lost his ever present smug for a second at that question, and when he answered, it almost as if he was making excuses.

"You have to realize, I was in my child form at the time, having taken the potion of youth to minimize my prana intake. So I might find it in my heart to forgive them for their mistake"

"Why what happened?" Illya inquired.

"Well it's not really that interesting" The King of Heroes replied. Even Illya could tell that he was being evasive.

"Oh come on, I'm sure the viewers would love to know" She reached behind her back and pulled out a pocket sized Saber figurine, delicately placing it on the little table that separated the couches. "Besides, there will be a reward for being honest"

The king was clearly tempted, but after taking one longing glance at the little saber on the table, he resolutely shook his head.

Illya however, didn't even pause as she once more reached behind her back and produced another pocket sized Saber, this one in a white bikini and striking a pose with one hand on her hip.

The poor servant swallowed, sweat running down his forehead, but The King of Heroes was made of strong stuff. He turned his face away with a supreme effort and shook his head once more.

Illya, undaunted, produced yet another tiny Saber and placed it on the table, so that the three little Sabers stood in a row facing the Golden King. This last one was a pocket sized Saber Lion, and its cuteness attribute easily exceeded that of the other two combined. Not even the mighty Gilgamesh was able to resist the temptation of the little three Sabers at once, and he finally hung his head and admitted defeat.

"All right, fine, I'll tell you the story, though I will probably end up regretting this" The king growled. "When he first took the throne, I was amused. I didn't really think that man could survive fighting both the UFN and the Democeles. I thought he would put up a good fight, but that was all"

"But then he actually won, and went on and conquered the entire world!" Illya intervened.

"Will you stop rubbing it in?" Her golden guest growled. "Do you have a death wish you pathetic meat doll?"

"I'm not pathetic! I'm cute!" Illya snapped back. "And as a member of the media industry it's my duty to dig up the truth, even at the cost of my life!"

"Feh, whatever" Gilgamesh sighed. "To continue with the story, when I found out that he had conquered the world, I immediately got on the next plane to Britannia. My goal was face this so called king who would rival my glory. Once I touched down on Britannian soil, I made my way up to the palace gates themselves and issued my challenge to Lelouch vi Britannia! I challenged him to come out of his palace and face me king to king, so that all may see who the true king of this world is!"

"Wow!" Despite herself, Illya was caught up in the story. "So what happened then, did he answer the challenge himself? Did he send out his geassed minions and you had to fight your way through every single one of them before you could get to Lelouch-sama? Did he just order his Knightmares to open fire on you and you had to heroically cut them down while 'Battle is to the Strong' played in the background? Huh huh? Did you?"

"Well" For a moment it almost looked like the king of heroes was _squirming_. But that clearly had to be a trick of the light, right?. "As I told you, I was in my child form"

"Yes?"

"When I issued the challenge, this guy with a weird monocle came out, patted me on the head and told me to run and find my mother. Then he gave me some oranges"

"..."

Illya covered her mouth with one hand and gestured frantically at the cameras with the other. The screen went dark as the cameramen obligingly stopped recording. However it took a another few seconds to terminate the audio feed, and shirks of hysterical laughter could be heard coming from the black screen for those few seconds before that too was cut off.

* * *

_end hgs._


	9. Chapter 9: The Final Master

_I'm back! The battle continues in this chapter. Hope you enjoy._

* * *

Chapter 9: The Final Master

* * *

The suburban street that had been filled with the sound of battle just a moment before was now dead silent following the statement Lelouch had made.

"What? Don't tell me you are surprised" Lelouch drawled in the same tone as before. "Attacking one of the founding families on their own turf? Surely you didn't expect your attack to go unnoticed"

The human gunmen were throwing nervous glances at their leader, waiting for instructions on how to deal with this new threat, while the two servants were watching the newcomer wearily.

The purple haired female was the first to break the silence.

"And why are you here servant" She asked in a beautiful, but cold voice. "What kind of master would throw their servant into the middle of a raging battle"

Lelouch responded to her with a good natured chuckle. "That is just one way of looking at it" He made a sweeping gesture with his hand, encompassing the street and its occupants. "As I told my master but a moment ago, this could also be seen as a golden opportunity. One that is far too valuable to pass up"

"I see" The female servant growled. "As you yourself said, the Matou are one of the founding families. From your point of view, this can be seen as a heaven sent chance to knock them out of the war"

She gripped her chain dagger tightly, keeping a weary eye on both Assassin and the newcomer, preparing to leap into action at the first sign of an attack. With two servants ganging up on her, she was in a great deal of trouble.

But the white robed servant surprised her.

"You misunderstand me dear lady" He shook his head in mock sadness. "I meant the exact opposite"

Assassin tensed as the robed mans mask turned in his direction. "I meant that this would be a golden opportunity to knock Assassin out of the war"

The purple haired women's mouth opened in surprise before changing into a grim smile as Lelouch continued to talk. "Assassin class servants are notoriously difficult to find because of their presence concealment, and even worse, they specialize in killing enemy masters, always striking from the shadows. So when one is kind enough to show himself in the open like this it would be a shame not to take advantage of the opportunity, don't you think so"

He turned and extended his hand to the now smirking woman. "What say you my dear lady? Shall we team up to deal with this pest?"

* * *

Emiya Shirou woke up to find himself laying on his side on the floor of one of the school buildings. And judging by the moonlight streaming in through the windows, it was night time.

Why was he here? How did he get here? He froze as he started t remember. Sakura disappearing, him going to school to look for her, and seeing the battle between the spearman and the swordsman. He had turned and run after they had seen him, only for the spearman to give chase...and stab him through the heart.

Shirou cautiously reached down and felt his chest.

Nothing, no holes in his chest, or on his t-shirt for that matter, both were intact as if the spear had never pierced him. He took the t-shirt off to check again, and there wasn't even a scar on his chest.

Shirou scratched his head in confusion, had it all been a dream? Or hallucination? When he pulled himself to his feet and checked the corridor, there were no blood stains on the floor either, and he remembered bleeding. Shirou shook his head in confusion. He found it impossible to believe that it had been just a dream, it had felt too real, but there was not a single shred of physical evidence to support it.

Shirou was turning to leave when something on the floor caught his eye. It was small and glinted in a ray of moonlight coming through the nearby windows. When he bent down and picked it up, he could see more clearly what it was. A small red gem. Strange.

Pocketing the item, Shirou decided to head for home, see if Lelouch-san had found Sakura, and maybe try and figure this mess out.

* * *

Back in the street outside the Matou house, Lelouch and the purple haired servant were standing almost back to back with Lelouch facing the side of the street that held the squad of gunmen and the woman facing side that held Servant Assassin.

Lelouch quickly scanned the squad of human assailants noting the body armor, masks and assault rifles. His gaze also noted the belts around their waists that carried a variety of gear, from extra magazines to med kits to grenades, perfect.

He turned his briefly to speak to the female servant in a low voice. "On my cue, attack Assassin. I'll take care of the others"

"Careful, the ammunition they use are conceptual weapons" She whispered back.

Lelouch frowned in annoyance behind his mask. He wasn't expecting that. This would make things a bit more complicated. "I see, thank you for the warning. Be ready"

Lelouch took one last look at the battlefield, human gunmen, heroic spirits, wrecked street.

And turned to face the gunmen once more as a small slot opened in his mirror like mask, right where his left eye was.

He looked one of the masked men right in the eye. "Throw a smoke grenade"

It was a whispered command, but so long as he held eye contact it didn't matter. The ex-soldier unclipped a smoke grenade from his belt and threw, and a moment later a smoke screen was starting to obscure a good portion of the street.

By then Lelouch was already moving. "Now!" He yelled and the female servant leaped into action, charging at Assassin with her dagger striking out.

The gunmen were already starting to open fire as Lelouch leaped into the growing smoke screen and vanished from their sight. A moment later the smoke rolled over them as well, and they lost sight of each other. But they were professionals, and knew better than to panic. They cocked their weapons and dropped into defensive crouches, waiting for the smoke to clear.

Suddenly, out of the smoke, there came the sound of a pained scream and a rifle firing on full auto.

Seconds later the wind picked up and the smoke screen started to blow away.

When the gunmen could finally see, one of their number lay dead on the floor, his blood pooling beneath him, a bullet hole through his forehead.

Of the enemy servant, there was no sign.

"What the hell, where is he" One of them snarled, understandably upset.

"Don't panic, split into groups of two and cover the street, don't let him sneak up on us" The squad leader snapped out. Regaining control of the situation.

The men immediately obeyed, and in moments they had taken up positions in a rough circle that allowed them to keep the whole street in sight. A distance away they could see the female servant pressing Assassin now that he was fighting alone. But they had to solve their own problem before saving him.

Bang!

The sound of a single shot rang out. And the men spun around to see another one of their number dead, a neat bullet hole in the back of his head.

Bang!

In the split second their attention was focused on their fallen comrade another of them died, the body falling lifeless to the ground in front of their horrified eyes.

"The hell" One man whispered.

"Where did the shot come from? Did anyone see?" The team leader shouted at his remaining three men. But they could only shake their heads in response.

"He has to be invisible" Another man whispered, his panicked gaze roaming around the empty street. "He can shoot us down like dogs"

"Shut up" The leader snarled. "We are Britannians, we are soldiers, we've all faced worse. All we have to do is find out where he is shooting from and we'll stuff him full of lead"

A sudden shout from Assassin drew their attention. It seemed that the female servant had finally managed to wound the skull masked killer because he was holding a bleeding shoulder as the woman pulled her dagger back by its attacked chain.

Bang! Bang!

The squad leader spun around, cursing himself for getting distracted like that, dreading what he would find.

Sure enough two of the remaining men were dead on the street, their lifes blood pouring out from the bullet holes in their heads.

"Wh...where did the shots come from?" He asked the single squad member that was left. But the man could only shake his head in response.

The squad leader looked down at the corpses scattered on the street. His entire team was gone. There were eight on them on the assault team, and now seven bodies lay on the street. Some of these men had been good friends of his. They had served together in the Emperors armies for years, ever since leaving the academy, right until the empire fell into the hands of the demon, forcing them to go rouge.

The squad leader blinked. Wait a minute, seven corpses? There had been eight men on his team. And there were seven corpses on the street.

"Shit"

He spun around, bringing his weapon to bear, only to have his gun ripped out of his hands by a hand that possessed inhuman strength. The single remaining squad member smiled through his mask as he wrapped his free hand around the squad leaders neck and throttled him.

"Checkmate"

* * *

Assassin had barely recovered from the wound to the shoulder when the woman was upon him again. Dagger striking out again and again like a serpent. He was just barely managing to keep the woman at bay with thrown daggers and evasive maneuvers. Unfortunately to stay ahead of the womans terrifying speed and persistent attacks he had to focus his full attention on her.

It proved his undoing.

Assassin screamed as a hail of bullets slammed into his body, penetrating flesh and bone and leaving bleeding wounds in a dozen places. He knew instantly that these were no ordinary bullets, normal bullets can't harm him. These had to be conceptual weapons, but how?

Assassins eyes widened as he stared at the single masked gunman who was kneeling in a firing crouch, his rifle aimed at him, barrel still smoking.

Shot by his own backup? How could?

Even as he watched, the gunman stood up, and his body seemed to ripple, almost as if he was Assassin was looking at the man through a mirage. And a moment later, the white robed and mirror masked heroic spirit stood where the gunman had been, rifle still in hand.

Assassin was still staring in shock as the white robed man spoke up. "You should be paying more attention"

"Guaaahhhh!" Assassin screamed as the dagger slammed into his side, punching through his ribs and into his vital organs.

Lelouch shook his head as the skull masked killer fell to the ground, it had been almost too easy.

"Thank you" The purple haired female servant said as she pulled her dagger back. "You certainly know how to take care of pests" Her lips smiled, quoting his own words from before.

"It was my pleasure dear lady" Lelouch nodded at the bleeding figure in front of them. "Will you finish him or should I?"

The woman looked at the fallen form of Assassin and her mouth frowned. "Let me, he attacked my masters home after all"

"Be my guest" Lelouch half bowed and stepped aside as the woman gripped her weapon and moved on Assassin.

"Curse you!" The fallen servant snarled weakly. "Curse you both!"

He struggled to get up, but a swift kick from the woman put in flat on his back again.

"Assassins never seem to have any luck in the grail wars do they?" The woman asked, her tone mocking as she raised her dagger to the killing strike. "Die!"

The dagger plunged down.

And before the astonished eyes of both Lelouch and the woman, Assassin vanished.

* * *

When a dejected Shirou finally managed to get home, he found the house empty. No Sakura, no Lelouch. His attempts to phone both Lelouch and Sakuras family also proved unsuccessful, with Lelouch's number dropping him into voice mail and the Matou not answering at all.

Not knowing what to do, Shirou moped about the house for a while before going to the shed at the back of the house where he kept his workshop. Or rather, what would have been his workshop if he had been a proper magus. Because the only magecraft he was actually good at was reinforcement. Other than that he could do a little projection, and that was about the extent of his thaumatological knowledge. So his workshop wasn't on par with another mages and was in reality little more of a place for him to tinker with and fix the stuff he picked up for repair.

Still he came here because things had happened today that could only be explained by magecraft. The strange markings that had suddenly appeared on his hand. The battle in the school between the two mystery men. And most of all, his miraculous recovery after being stabbed through the heart. And while he might not be the best mage around, he might still be able to find some answers with his meager knowledge.

But once again, things refused to go according to plan for Emiya Shirou as fate intervened.

Shirou had barely been inside a minute when he was distracted by the sound of running footsteps outside.

Bang!

Just as he turned to face the door of the shed, it was kicked in with such force the door tore off its hinges and flew into the room, missing a stunned Shirou by inches. And framed in the now open doorway stood the figure Shirou would have nightmares about, the blue haired and blue bodysuit clad warrior, crimson spear held in a ready stance and pointing straight at Shirou.

"So my coward of a master was right after all. You _are_ still alive" The spearman said as Shirou stared at him with wide eyed shock and more than a little fear, literally unable to move as images of being stabbed by that spear played themselves in front of his eyes. "I'm sorry about this kid, but I have to finish the job"

With that he lunged at the frozen Shirou, crimson spear once more aimed at the boys heart as Shirou still stood rooted to the spot, staring helplessly at the weapon that will end his life.

* * *

"Nothing" The red clad servant said to an annoyed Rin Tohsaka. "I gave chase, but lost him within moments. That guy is fast. Afterwards I couldn't pick up his trail again no matter how I tried"

"That's just great" Rin muttered as they walked home through the dark streets. "Our first battle and it was a complete waste. We didn't take out the enemy servant, we didn't learn the identity of his master, we don't even know who the hell he is"

"We do know his class and his attributes master" Archer spoke up despite the girl glaring at her for interrupting her. "It will hep us when we see him again"

"Lets hope so" Rin looked thoughtful. "There is still the question of how we are to find him again"

"Which reminds me, how is that boy that was injured?" Archer asked the girl who was walking at his side. "Did you manage to save him?"

"I did" Rin answered without looking at him. "He should be fine when he wakes up. And I don't want to hear anything about what I 'Should have done' Archer, It was my decision to make, not yours"

"I see, so he is still alive" The servant nodded to himself. "That raises another possibility" He said watching Rin out of the corner of his eye.

"What do you mean?" Rin asked as she continued walking.

"However small, there is a chance that if that servant or his master was watching the school, then they too might know that the boy might be alive" Rin stopped in her tracks and spun to face him. "And if that is the case, then they might be back to finish the job"

"Damn" Rin's eyes widened. "You're right. We're going to have to keep an eye on him. Come on, hurry! " With that she spun on her heel and started to all but run down the street.

"You know where he lives" Archer asked as he followed his master.

"Everyone in school knows where he lives" Rin shot over her shoulder without slowing down. "

He is kind of the unofficial repairman of the school. So when someone has a broken down household appliance they go to him to get it fixed"

"I didn't know that" Archer muttered under his breath. "How lucky for him"

* * *

With a supreme effort, Nonette Enneagram managed to pull herself to her feet. Her entire body felt like one big bruise, and she was sure something was broken. But she put aside her concerns for now and focused on the matter at hand.

The girl hadn't moved at all. She was just standing there, the living shadows caressing her body, and watching them with a satanic expression that was completely out of place in the face of a young girl.

Nonette risked a glance down, Eduard was still on the floor staring at the girl with an expression of utter horror. She absently noted that one of his legs was bent the wrong way.

"Eduard!" She hissed. "Eduard! Dammit, what is happening here? What has happened to her?"

A whimpering sound was her only answer.

She kicked him in the side, Eduard yelped and looked at her, his expression not changing in the least. "Snap out of it man, tell me what's going on. We have to do something"

Eduard just looked at her helplessly, his jaw working but no sound coming out.

Nonette cursed herself for not seeing this coming. Like many of the former nobility, Eduard had never been a soldier, he had no prior military experience, or any idea of what to do or how to react in a crisis. And this 'Holy Grail War' was a _war, _something these magi didn't seem to grasp. Anyone who had been in a war knew that it was brutal, primal and traumatizing. Even in the case of veterans it took long hard training before they started thinking and acting rationally in a combat situation. Expecting the same of a civilian, especially a pampered former noble, was ridiculous. And she had only herself to blame. Looks like it was all in her hands once again.

In a single blinding motion, Nonette drew sidearm and opened fire on the girl.

Nonette was one of the best shooters in the world. Her skill having been proven on battlefields across the world. Her hands were rock steady, her aim precise, and the bullets flew at the girl at hypersonic speeds, containing enough force to turn her head into jelly.

None of them reached the target.

The living shadows around the girl had snapped up to cover her like a shield. And like a shield the bullets simply bounced off.

Nonette stared in drop jawed shock.

Eduard whimpered.

The girl giggled.

The girl was the first to speak. "Don't be so surprised. Even a low class magus can reinforce his body to be bulletproof. And I? I'm much more than a mere magus" Her voice was amused. Like she enjoyed her helplessness. "Now I think it's my turn"

Before Nonette could respond she heard the sound of running footsteps behind her, and she turned to see the other members of their team burst into the room, no doubt alerted by the sounds. More to the point, they were all armed. Powerful assault rifles that had more penetrating power and fired much more rapidly than her handgun.

With them, there might still be a chance.

She gestured at the girl, who still hadn't moved from her spot in the wreck of the other room, and shouted a single command. "Open fire! Take her down!"

The men who had rushed into the room had been standing shocked at the scene before them. Whatever they expected from the sounds of smashing doors and gunfire, it wasn't this. But at Nonette's command they swung into action like the former soldiers they were and a split second later a storm of bullets flew at the lone girl.

The living shadows once more rose to cover her like a cloak, shielding her from the gunfire. But that was not all, because now for the first time the girl went on the offensive. With blinding speed half a dozen tendrils of living shadow shot out and wrapped themselves around the attackers like tentacles. The men were lifted off their feet and slammed into the walls, ceiling and floor.

For a moment there was the sound of crunching bone, tearing flesh and desperate screams. And when the sound had stopped and the shadows retreated, the men were dead.

Nonette stared.

The broken and twisted bodies of her team littered the floor. Their weapons had had absolutely no effect. And she knew that nothing else she could do was going to amount to anything. The empty handgun still clutched in her hand was evidence of that. Once more she cursed herself for letting Eduard and his friends talk her into this mad scheme. Still, she supposed it was too late for regrets now, this was it.

As if to confirm that thought, the girl finally started moving forward, the shadow tentacles dragging in her wake like the hem of a bizarre dress.

"That takes care of them" She said in her sweet voice as she slowly waked forwards. "Now I think its your turn"

Nonette drew her saber and steeled herself, ready to go down fighting.

"No!" The panicked yell came from behind her as Eduard finally found his voice. "No! No! No! Not me! Not like this!"

Nonette looked behind her to see Eduard in a semi sitting position and holding his arm out.

"By the power of my Command seal!"

Nonette felt her eyes widen.

"Assassin come forth!"

* * *

Clang!

The crimson spear hit a half dismantled radio and ripped it to pieces, but more importantly Emiya Shirou, who had been standing in front of the radio managed to scramble away just in time.

"I wont deny you the right to defend yourself" The spearman grunted as he prepared for another lunge. "But it would be a lot more painless for you if you just accepted your fate"

"Damn him!" Shirou cursed as he held his improvised weapon in front of him and backed away.

As the spearman had lunged at him, Shirou had managed to snap out of his shock and managed to dodge, and he had proceeded to grab the first thing within hands reach to defend himself against the attacker. He had been more focused on the red spear, and had not really paid attention to just what he had grabbed till he bought it up in a guard position.

It turned out to be a rolled up poster.

For what seemed like the hundredth time that day, Emiya Shirou cursed fate.

The idea of fighting a spear with a poster was ridiculous, but he had at least reinforced the poster with the little magecraft he knew and it was now as hard as steel. Still, he held no delusions about his chances of survival.

He had witnessed the battle in the school yard, he knew just how fast and strong this man was. Shirou with his impromptu weapon and his kendo skill might stand a chance against a mundane burglar or mugger, but against this warrior they were next to useless.

And to make matters worse, they were both inside a small cramped shed, and the spearman blocked the exit. There was no room to maneuver there was nowhere to run. He had been backed into a corner, and the only option left him was to stand and fight his enemy, face to face, reinforced poster against barbed crimson spear.

He was going to die.

Still he had fought back, Emiya Shirou was nothing if not stubborn. And now, mere seconds later, the inside of the shed looked like it had been attacked with a madman with an axe. Destroyed tables, chairs and other detritus littered the floor, all of it the result of him avoiding the attacks of the spear.

Suddenly the spearman thrust at his throat, and Shirou leaped back while bringing his poster up to defend. But the spear suddenly changed direction and dipped and the haft of the weapon slammed into his wrist.

With a cry of pain, Shirou dropped the reinforced poster.

The next instant, the barbed blade of the spear was at his throat.

"It's over" The spearman said, as a terrified Shirou tried to back away from the weapon, only to fall on his back as his feet to tripped over the remains of a destroyed chair. When he managed to scramble to a semi sitting position with his arms supporting his upper body, he found the spearman standing over him with the barbed spear once more at his throat.

"You put up a good fight" The spearmans words seemed regretful, almost. "Against a human enemy you would have survived. But not against me" He glanced briefly at Shirou's bandaged hand. "And I get the feeling you might be the final master in this little war, it's a shame it has to end like this for you"

Shirou could only stare at his would be killer in mute horror as the spear pulled back for a final thrust.

"Goodbye kid"

* * *

Shirou was experiencing tunnel vision, his entire world narrowed down to the barbed tip of that spear.

He was going to die, the knowledge of that inevitability was almost suffocating, making it literally impossible to draw breath and making his chest hurt. He never heard the last words spoken by his soon to be killer. All other thoughts actions and sensory input was ignored by the desperate desire to _survive_.

He didn't understand, why was this happening? Why now? Why to him? Hadn't he died already? And more than once?

The first time when he was caught in the great fire, and Kiritsugu saved him, he believed he had been saved for a reason, he who should have died. The promise he had made to his rescuer only reinforced that belief. He was saved, so he could save others.

And then he had all but died again, stabbed through the heart by this very spear. To his eternal shame, he had really given up hope that time, and had resigned himself to his fate. But he had not died. By some miracle, he had been saved, saved once more from what had been certain death.

All that couldn't have been for nothing? Could it? Coming back from the dead twice had to count for something.

Besides, being killed twice on the same day by the same man, the same weapon, in the same manner was ridiculous.

He refused to accept it! He had been saved for a reason! He was still among the living for a reason! He _will not_ give up again!

He denied it! He denied death with every fiber of his being!

The crimson spear moved forward for the killing blow.

And on the floor of Shirou's little workshop, a ten year old magic circle flared to life.

* * *

_end of chapter 9._

_I wasn't expecting this series of battles to take up so many chapters,but hopefully I can finish them all by the next one._

_This chapter finally saw Lelouch actually fight on the front lines of the war, though a heroic spirit against humans isn't much of a contest. However it will set the stage for future battles and establish the fighting style he will use if forced into a confrontation._

_Also the final servant is about to be summoned, with the grail war 'officially' starting next chapter, just like in cannon. While something will definitely be changing from the cannon story lines, but I hope to stay as true as possible to the characters and their individual stories._

_As always thank you for reading, and do tell me what you think of the story._

_Till next time. :) _

* * *

Omake

Shirou stared in mute shock.

The crimson spear that would have pierced his heart a second ago, had stopped.

A gleaming golden longsword had blocked the barbed blade that had been poised to take his life.

But it wasn't the sword that held the poor boys attention. Rather, it was the figure holding it. And from the poleaxed look on his face, his would be killer was feeling the same way.

And well he should. Shirou's rescuer was obviously female, and tiny, barely coming up to the spearmans chest. Blond hair, bright green eyes, lovely heart shaped face. And...

"Gao!"

...dressed in a lion suit.

Tail, mane, it was all there. Shirou also noted that there was a neat little necktie at the throat. But those thoughts took second stage as the lion? Girl? Turned her head briefly to look at Shirou, an inquisitive look on her face.

"Gao?"

While being completely incomprehensible, it served to snap both Shirou and the spearman out of their daze and into speech.

"What" Shirou began.

"..the" spearguy continued.

"Hell!" They finished.

"Gao?"

The spearguy continued speaking, clearly feeling that he hadn't expressed his feelings fully.

"Who the hell is this freak? What the hell kind of nut runs around in a monkey suit, I mean lion suit" This coming from a guy who runs around in a blue bodysuit made of rubber. Clearly his sense of irony was not as well developed as his combat prowess. "Since coming here I've seen trolling priests, homicidal lolis and a guy who literally shits gold (see omake 2), but this? this takes the cake on the freak parade"

"Gaooo" That came out in a low, very pissed off growl.

But the spearguy was still ranting. Apparently his sense of self preservation was also not up to snuff with the rest of his attributes. "I mean yeah it's kind of cute but hell the beastia..."

"GAO!"

"eh?" That was all the spearguy could manage as the loud, but at the same time cute, war cry echoed off the walls of the little shed.

In front of her horrified audience the lion? Girl? drew her sword back and raised it above her head in both arms, waves of prana rolling off the golden weapon.

Anyone who had any experience with the grail war knew what was happening. Noble Phantasm activation.

And apparently spearguy was one of the experienced. "Hey, wait a minute!"

"Gao!"

The lion? Girl? Bought the sword down in a slashing motion and the spearguy went down under a tsunami of chicken drumsticks that materialized out of thin air and hit with the force of...well a tsunami. The front door, and front wall, of the little shed exploded outwards as the drumsticks spilled outside and formed a small mountain of meat in the backyard. More to the point, spearguy was buried under said mountain.

Being crushed to death under a pile of chicken drumsticks was no way for a heroic spirit to die. But then again, this is Lancer.

"Gao" The lion girl said in a satisfied tone as she lowered her golden blade.

Across the city in the Kotomine church, Kotomine Kirei suddenly jerked and dropped the wine glass he had been holding.

"What is it?" Gilgamesh, who had been sitting across from Kirei inquired with a frown.

"Lancer died" Kirei sighed in annoyance.

Back in the shed, Shirou pointed a shaking finger at his rescuer. "You are not human!"

"Gao?"

* * *

Omake 2

In another plane of existence, in the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, Lord Twyvin of House Lannister was bending over the newborn twins, Cersei and Jaime, when he sneezed, right on the babies. His wife responded by throwing him out of the house a.k.a bigass castle, and poor Twyvin had go move to another city (Kings Landing), and find a new job (Kings hand). This set off a chain of events that culminated in two wars, multiple assassinations and thousands of dead peasants. But this being a fantasy world, dead peasantry don't rate any karma points. So we can safely ignore that last part.

* * *

_end omakes._


End file.
